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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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?”

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.