UNRWA banned from operating in Israel – as agency head warns move will ‘deepen the suffering of Palestinians’
Israel has passed a law banning UN aid agency UNRWA from operating in the country – a move which the organisation’s chief said will “deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza”.
It would effectively bar the relief group from working in Gaza or the West Bank where access is controlled by Israel.
The development comes as at least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, Reuters reported.
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The headquarters of UNRWA in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency), which is responsible for more than five million Palestinian refugees, has come under repeated attack by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who says it has links to Hamas and other militant groups.
The new laws passed in the Knesset on Monday banned the agency from having any ties to Israeli officials and stripped its staff of their legal immunities.
The Israeli parliament also declared the group a terror organisation.
As well as marking a new low in UNRWA’s relations with Israel, the changes are also a serious blow to the agency and to Palestinians in Gaza who have come to rely on it for aid during more than a year of war.
The legislation will take effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s foreign ministry notifies the UN, according to the spokesman for politician Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors of one of the bills.
UNRWA’s chief Philippe Lazzarini has warned the ban “will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza”.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA communications director, said it is “the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza. Who can do its job?”
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IDF raid hospital in Gaza
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK is “gravely concerned” at the ban, which, he said, jeopardises “the entire international humanitarian response in Gaza and delivery of essential health and education services in the West Bank”.
Calling the humanitarian situation in Gaza “simply unacceptable”, he demanded an “immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages, and a significant increase in aid to Gaza”.
Under its international obligations, Israel, he said, “must ensure sufficient aid reaches civilians in Gaza”.
“Only UNRWA can deliver humanitarian aid at the scale and pace needed. We urge Israeli lawmakers to ensure that UNRWA can continue to deliver its essential work,” Mr Starmer said.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the measures were “totally wrong”.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said they were “deeply concerned” by the legislation, as “there’s nobody that can replace them [UNRWA] right now in the middle of the crisis”.
In August, nine of the agency’s staff were sacked after an investigation found they may have been involved in Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel.
The UN began investigating alleged links after Israel first accused the group of colluding with the attack in January.
More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
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UNRWA provides education, health care, and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
On Sunday, seven European foreign ministries, including the UK’s, said any move to restrict UNRWA’s work would have “devastating consequences on an already critical and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation”.
When Israel first brought the accusations against UNRWA, it initially led top donor countries to suspend their funding for the agency.
The UK resumed its funding of the agency in July, just weeks after the Labour Party was elected.
Some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage when Hamas militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
More than 43,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry, since Israel launched its military response and invasion.
World
Arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM Netanyahu and former defence secretary Gallant over alleged war crimes
Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza that Israel launched following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The prime minister’s office said the warrants against him and Gallant were “anti-semitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions”.
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, was the mastermind behind the 7 October attacks.
It is unclear if he is still alive, following an airstrike that Israel claimed killed him earlier this year.
Neither Israel nor the US are members of the ICC. Israel has rejected the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes in Gaza.
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were a “mark of shame” for the ICC.
The court originally said it was seeking arrest warrants for the three men in May for the alleged crimes and today announced that it had rejected challenges by Israel and issued warrants of arrest.
The new UK Labour government said in the summer it would not oppose the ICC’s right to issue the warrants.
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly. Pic: Reuters
Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
In its update, the ICC said it found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged crimes.
These, the court said, include “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
Netanyahu previously spoke of his “disgust” at the suggestion the ICC would seek an arrest warrant for him.
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A video released by Hamas in 2005 shows a man identified as Mohammed Deif. Pic: AP
Warrant for Hamas leader
The ICC also said it has issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Al Masri, saying it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that he is responsible for crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, torture, rape, as well as war crimes including taking hostages.
Discussing the 7 October attacks, the court said: “In light of the coordinated killings of members of civilians at several separate locations, the Chamber also found that the conduct took place as part of a mass killing of members of the civilian population, and it therefore concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of extermination was committed.”
In its statement, the ICC said the prosecution was not in a position to determine whether Al Masri is dead or alive, so was issuing the arrest warrant.
The court previously said it was seeking an arrest warrant for Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas who was subsequently killed in July.
Four people have died and a number of others are in hospital after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol.
According to reports, six British travellers are among those being treated in Laos, after falling ill last week.
Two Danish women in their 20s and a 56-year-old US citizen are reported to have died in what authorities fear was a mass poisoning.
On Thursday, it was confirmed an Australian woman – named as Bianca Jones, 19, from Melbourne – had become the fourth person to die.
Holly Bowles Pic: Facebook
Her friend Holly Bowles is being treated in hospital after calling for medical help at their accommodation, Nana’s Backpackers Hostel.
In a statement given to the Herald Sun, Ms Jones’s family said: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the news that our beloved daughter and sister, Bianca Jones, has passed away.
“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us.
“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”
Simone White Pic: Squire Patton Boggs
One of the British travellers being treated in hospital has been named as Simone White, 28, from Orpington, Kent.
According to The Times newspaper, she became ill last week in Vang Vieng – a resort popular with backpackers.
Ms White’s friend, Bethany Clarke, a healthcare worker also from Orpington, posted on a Laos Backpacking Facebook group to warn other travellers.
“Urgent – please avoid all local spirits. Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars,” she wrote.
“Just avoid them as so not worth it. Six of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.”
New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning.
Ukraine has fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, a source has told Sky News.
The UK and Ukraine have not yet confirmed the use of the long-range weapons in Russia but their deployment has been widely reported in British media.
Footage has been posted on Telegram reportedly showing wreckage from one of the missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
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What are Storm Shadow missiles?
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The UK had previously said that British tanks, anti-tank missiles and other military equipment could be used inside Russia as part of Ukraine’s defence – but had kept restrictions on the use of long-range missiles.
It comes just days after US President Joe Biden authorised the same policy shift.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in the Bryansk region.
A Russian state news agency cited the ministry as saying the missiles caused no casualties.
The missile is also called SCALP by French forces. File pic: AP
Missiles will have a ‘marginal effect’
Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says Ukraine’s allies have been pursuing a strategy of ambiguity and “it remains to be seen whether we get official confirmation on this from the UK or from Ukraine”.
“There is also the uncomfortable reality that Ukraine’s stockpile of Storm Shadow missiles is severely limited, so their use will only have a marginal effect.”
Meanwhile, Sky’s military analyst Sean Bell says he would be amazed if this attack really marks the first time such a missile has been used by Ukraine to hit inside Russia.
“I would be quite surprised if they haven’t been used for selected targets further on [into Russia] because they are… very, very effective at striking Russian logistics hubs, headquarters, ammunition dumps,” he said.
British forces used Storm Shadows in the Iraq war in 2003. File pic: Reuters
The same missiles are also used by French forces, using the alternative name SCALP, and are made by the Anglo-French arms manufacturer, MBDA.
Embassies shut over air attack fears
Earlier, the US and some other Western embassies in Kyiv closed amid fears Russia was preparing a major air attack on the Ukrainian capital.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been asking Kyiv’s allies to give his troops the capability to strike deeper behind Russian lines for over a year.
Mr Biden’s change of policy is linked to changing tactics by the Russians, which began deploying North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces.
The White House is set to announce more military aid for Ukraine worth up to $275m (£217m), the US defence secretary has said.
Lloyd Austin said the support would “meet critical battlefield needs” and would include munitions for rocket systems, artillery and tank weapons, along with anti-personnel landmines.
Russian politician Maria Butina and Donald Trump Jr, the son of US President-elect Donald Trump, both warned that Mr Biden’s decision over Ukraine’s usage of long-range missiles could spark the start of a third world war.
Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold required for the use of nuclear weapons after the US move, adding to fears the conflict could escalate.
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