Israel to halt cooperation with UNRWA amid legislation

Israel's Foreign Ministry announced on November 4 that the country has formally notified the United Nations of its intention to cease cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) once new Israeli legislation takes effect early next year.

This decision follows the Israeli parliament's approval of a law that will sever ties with the agency and prohibit its operations within Israel, Caliber.Az reports.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, stated on X page that, despite the overwhelming evidence submitted to the UN that substantiate Hamas' infiltration of UNRWA, the UN did nothing to rectify the situation.

Following the legislation on UNRWA, the State of Israel officially notified the President of the General Assembly of the termination of cooperation with the agency. Despite the overwhelming evidence we submitted to the UN that substantiate Hamas' infiltration of UNRWA, the UN did… pic.twitter.com/UUti6zZrOT

— Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון (@dannydanon) November 4, 2024

However, Israel has provided limited evidence to support these claims. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini remarked last week that the agency has received no response to its repeated requests for Israel to furnish evidence of such allegations. 

"UNRWA is therefore in the invidious position of being unable to address allegations for which it has no evidence, while these allegations continue to be used to undermine the agency," Lazzarini stated.

In fact, UNRWA is the primary distributor of aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, an area heavily affected by Israel's military response to the Hamas attack, which has devastated many regions and displaced approximately 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants. Lazzarini warned that dismantling the agency would have a catastrophic impact on the international response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israel's communication to the UN stated that the country "will continue to work with international partners, including other United Nations agencies, to ensure the facilitation of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a manner that does not undermine Israel's security."

Humanitarian organisations have frequently raised concerns about delays in delivering aid to Gaza and the unsafe conditions for distributing aid amid ongoing conflict.

By Aghakazim Guliyev