Israel’s implementation of its ban on Unrwa, the UN agency serving Palestinian refugees, will be “catastrophic”, according to the agency’s communications director Juliette Touma.
Two laws, which are due to be implemented on Thursday, were passed by the Israeli Knesset in October. They ban the operation of Unrwa on Israeli land – including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised internationally – and prohibit Israeli officials from contacting the agency. Unrwa provides aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and other countries in the region.
“Its going to be catastrophic for the Palestinian people that we serve and depend on the agency for their survival,” said Touma.
She added: “We don’t know how [the ban] will be implemented. We will continue to serve until we can’t. We don’t know how they will stop us from delivering.”
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Israel has long been critical of Unrwa. It claims that Unrwa staff took part in the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The UN has said nine Unrwa staff may have been involved and were fired and has promised to investigate all accusations made. It says it has repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided.
Touma said Unrwa has not received communication from the Israeli government about its enforcement of the ban.
As Israel controls all access to Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Unrwa and organisations working with the agency will no longer be able to import, deliver and distribute food, medicine, fuel and other supplies. Unrwa schools and health services could be forced to close.
[ Israel’s Unrwa ban will have an adverse effect on the humanitarian effort in GazaOpens in new window ]
The agency provides services for 912,879 registered refugees in the West Bank and 1.6 million refugees in Gaza. Unrwa has 96 schools and 45,000 students in the West Bank and 183 schools and 291,000 students in Gaza. It operates 43 primary health centres in the West Bank where there are 895,000 annual patient visits, and 22 health centres in Gaza where there are 3.4 million consultations a year.
“We serve free of charge,” said Touma. “We are meant to serve the poorest of the poor in the community and the most vulnerable in the community inside and outside the [refugee] camps.”
Multiple UN and international agencies contribute humanitarian supplies for Gaza but, according to Touma, “Unrwa has the best distribution system, so other agencies depend on Unrwa. If Unrwa goes down, the whole aid structure goes down.”
Touma said she cannot predict the fate of the fragile ceasefire if Unrwa is unable to function. “A big chunk of the ceasefire agreement is bringing in unhindered and unlimited humanitarian aid which is run, administered and managed by Unrwa.”
While aid trickled in before the ceasefire, Gazan criminal gangs exploited the lack of law and order to loot aid convoys. But the pause in hostilities has seen an increase in aid. “Since the ceasefire kicked in, looting incidents have decreased massively and in most places, they have stopped,” said Touma.
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Unrwa’s Gaza staff has shrunk dramatically during the war, from 13,000 to 5,000. She said 270 employees have been killed, some left for Egypt, and teachers are not working because schools are closed. Currently, staff are involved in “emergency response, management of shelters, distribution of food and healthcare”.
Among Unrwa’ s 200 schools, 78-80 per cent are damaged. Nevertheless, most of them shelter displaced families.
Unrwa is bringing in tents to shelter homeless Palestinians and to use as bases for key operations. “One thousand medical personnel work with us in tents and shelters. Nurses, doctors, paramedics, lab operators, dentists and pharmacists, across the board wherever there is need.”
Unrwa cannot go to court over the ban as it is a United Nations agency, Touma said. “After the war, commissions of inquiry could look into all the violations against Unrwa. Two Israel human rights organisations – one Jewish and one Palestinian – have challenged the ban.”
She said Unrwa did not know if condemnation of the ban by Ireland and other countries will influence Israel. “We will know on Thursday.””
Unrwa was created in December 1949 by the UN General Assembly and began operations in April 1950. It was intended to be a temporary organisation providing for the needs of 750,000 Palestinian refugees from 78 per cent of Palestine occupied by Israel until the provisions of December 1948 assembly resolution 194, paragraph 11, were implemented. This called for “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date”.
Since then, Palestinians have regarded this as their “right of return”. It has been rejected by Israel and not enforced by the international community. Today, Unrwa serves 5.9 million original refugees and their descendants. – Additional reporting: Reuters
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