Israel passes law to ban UN relief agency, main aid provider in Gaza

A destroyed truck that was used by workers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is loaded onto another truck after it was hit in an Israeli air strike on Salah Al Dine road between Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis town, southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, Oct. 23, 2024. (EPA Photo)

by Agencies

Oct 28, 2024 10:23 pm

The Israeli parliament on Monday approved a controversial bill banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), considered a lifeline for Gaza, from operating on Israeli territory.

The U.N. organization is the main humanitarian aid provider in the Gaza Strip, and the move risks preventing the agency from working in the Palestinian Territories too, as Israel controls the border crossings.

The legislation, which wouldn't take effect immediately, risks collapsing the already fragile aid distribution process at a moment when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening and Israel is under increased U.S. pressure to ramp up aid.

The vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties.

A second bill severing diplomatic ties with UNRWA was also being voted on later Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned against the plan, saying it would "stifle" efforts to alleviate human suffering and tensions in the Gaza Strip, and also in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, earlier this month.

The bills risk crippling the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.

UNRWA provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The bills would go into effect 60 to 90 days after Israel's Foreign Ministry notifies the U.N., according to the spokesperson of lawmaker Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors of one of the bills.

"If it passes and if it's implemented, it's a disaster," said Juliette Touma, communications director for the agency. "UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza ... Who can do its job?"

With no end in sight to the war, officials in Gaza reported Monday that the death toll from Israel's attacks claimed the lives of at least 43,000 Palestinians in over a year of military campaign.