Israel is refusing to step in and provide services in the occupied Palestinian territories should it shutter UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA later this month, in defiance of international law.
UNRWA still operates in the Palestinian territories but it is unclear what awaits the nearly 75-year-old agency when an Israeli law banning its operation on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities comes into force later this month.
Israel and the UN have been engaged in tit-for-tat letter writing since the law was passed in late October. Shortly after, the UN told Israel it was not the world body’s responsibility to replace UNRWA in the Palestinian territories – Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
In a letter to the UN General Assembly and Security Council late on Thursday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said if UNRWA was forced to stop operating then Israel “would be left to ensure that the range of services and assistance which UNRWA has been providing are provided” in accordance with its obligations under international law.
Guterres wrote that while other UN agencies were prepared to continue providing services and assistance to the Palestinians – to the extent they can – that “must not be viewed as releasing Israel from its obligations”.
As the occupying power in Gaza and the West Bank, international law requires Israel to facilitate relief programs and ensure food, medical care, hygiene and public-health standards.
In a decision in July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is illegal under international law and ordered it to end its unlawful presence within one year.
In a 18 December letter to the world body, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon claimed the new legislation “does not in any way undermine Israel’s steadfast commitment to international law” and rejected UN claims that Israel would be responsible for filling any gap left by UNRWA.
He dismissed the ICJ’s ruling, claiming that Israel does not exercise effective control over Gaza and therefore is not an occupying power.
Health, education at risk
Israel has long been critical of UNRWA and claimed that agency staff took part in the 7 October attack. The UN has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired.
The US has said its ally Israel must ensure the new law does not further impede aid deliveries and critical services, including by UNRWA, in Gaza, which has been engulfed in a humanitarian crisis during the war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas.
But it has also questioned UN contingency planning.
State Department officials met this week with the transition team of incoming US President Donald Trump – who takes office on 20 January – and raised concerns about how the crisis in Gaza could deepen once the UNRWA law is implemented, said a US official.
UNRWA, established by the UN General Assembly, provides aid, health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and neighboring Arab countries – Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Guterres said UNRWA’s unique role could not be replaced. UN officials say it is the health, education and social services UNRWA provides in the Palestinian territory that would suffer most as other agencies cannot match its ability to deliver such help.
Danon argued that “replacing UNRWA with relief schemes that will adequately provide essential assistance to Palestinian civilians is not at all impossible,” citing the aid operation in Gaza where he said other UN agencies were equipped to provide the necessary response “as they do elsewhere in the world.”
Other agencies working in Gaza and the West Bank include the children’s organization UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, and the UN Development Programme. But top UN officials and the Security Council describe UNRWA as the backbone of the current humanitarian operation in Gaza.
Israel has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians and laid waste to Gaza in the 15 months since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October – a military offensive which UN officials and human rights organisations have described as an act of genocide.
