Israel’s ban on U.N. aid agency for Palestinians comes into effect at critical point for Gaza

What is UNRWA?

Often described as the main humanitarian and social security provider for the Palestinians, UNRWA was established in 1949 and went into operation in 1950 to serve some 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the foundation of the state of Israel. 

UNRWA, which is funded by a combination of U.N member states and the U.N. itself, now provides humanitarian aid, education and health services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, who are also considered refugees under the agency’s charter. Some 2.4 million of these people are in Jordan, 1.6 million in Gaza, 900,000 are in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and a further 1 million are spread across Syria and Lebanon.

While the U.N. General Assembly controls UNRWA, annually extending its mandate to operate, the body only functions with the approval of local authorities. According to UNRWA itself, it has more than 17,000 employees, most of them Palestinian refugees — in territories impacted by the ban, where 2.4 million people are recognized as refugees — plus a small number of international staff.

What’s Israel saying?

Lawmakers on the political right in Israel and the U.S. have long argued that the education material taught in UNRWA schools is antisemitic and incites violence against Israel. They also say that UNRWA has helped to perpetuate the refugee status of Palestinians and used them as a political tool against Israel rather than helping them integrate into their environments.

More recently, they have claimed that UNRWA has failed to prevent Hamas from using its facilities in Gaza, infiltrating its organization and misappropriating aid supplies.

Those arguments gathered support in Israel after the Israel Defense Forces said it had found Hamas-built tunnels under UNRWA schools and weapons in UNRWA faculties. 

When Hamas led the Oct. 7 2023, terrorist attack on Israel in which Israeli officials say more than 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, some of those casualties and hostages were taken by members of UNRWA staff, according to Israel.

What’s the response?

In its own defense, UNRWA has said that its educational material is designed to highlight tolerance and democracy and has denied any connection to terrorist activities. The body says that its staff must remain neutral and that any staff who are not are fired. It says that less than 1% of staff have been found guilty of such violations.

Last August, an independent investigation…