The international staff of the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) have had to evacuate and relocate to Jordan, its officials said as Israeli legislation banning it came into effect on Thursday.
The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, and the body’s Security Council have described UNRWA as the “backbone of humanitarian aid” in the Strip, which has been devastated by a ruinous 15-month war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli officials, however, have repeatedly accused UNRWA of “bankrolling its enemies” and having ties to terrorism, a charge that the agency and UN officials have vehemently denied.
In October Israel adopted legislation, banning UNRWA’s operation on Israeli land – including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognised internationally. Contact with Israeli authorities would also cease with restrictions coming into play on 30 January.
Jonathan Fowler, a UNRWA spokesperson, said that Israel had also shortened all of UNRWA’s international staff visas to expire on Wednesday, which “is tantamount to being evicted” or declared persona non grata. He added that it has forced UNRWA to relocate its international workforce to Amman, Jordan.
Juliette Toma, director of UNRWA communications, called the bans “outrageous” and “devastating,” saying they had also been ordered to evacuate 12 premises in East Jerusalem, including schools and health centres, impacting 1,100 children and up to 80,000 people who use the centres for primary healthcare.
“This is unheard of. This is a campaign against the United Nations by a member state of the United Nations. UNRWA has been operating for 75 years. This is unprecedented in the history of the United Nations,” she told The Independent.
Mr Fowler said that despite the difficulties “UNRWA remains absolutely committed to stay and deliver”.
“We will not stop. We’re not bowing down to this. But, we do know that the practical impacts and the uncertainty mean that our operations could be substantially affected,” he added in his statement.
In a briefing a day before the ban was set to come into place, David Mencer, a spokesperson for the Israeli government, claimed that UNRWA was only responsible for 0.6 per cent of Gaza’s humanitarian aid, despite the fact that the UN itself says UNRWA is responsible for well over half.
Mr Mencer also echoed several accusations that have been repeatedly made by Israel against the UN agency that it was involved in terrorism, which the UN denies.
Israel says UNRWA staff took part in Hamas’s bloody 7 October attacks on southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory air and ground offensive inside Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to the enclave’s health ministry.
The UN has said that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed in September by Israel – was also reportedly found to have had a UNRWA job.
The UN has vowed to investigate all accusations made and has said that Israel has provided no evidence despite being asked repeatedly. Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, who has warned a ban on UNRWA would “heighten instability and deepen despair” as well as undermine a ceasefire in Gaza, said this week that UNRWA has been the target of a “fierce disinformation campaign” to “portray the agency as a terrorist organisation”.
“Since October 2023, we have delivered two-thirds of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons, and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio,” Mr Lazzarini told the Security Council on Tuesday.
“Since the ceasefire began, UNRWA has brought in 60 per cent of the food entering Gaza, reaching more than half a million people. We conduct some 17,000 medical consultations every day,” he said.
Israel’s most powerful ally the US, under president Donald Trump, has welcomed the restrictions.
The acting US ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, told the Security Council this week that the US supports Israel’s “sovereign right” to close UNRWA’s offices in Jerusalem adding that UNRWA was “exaggerating the effects of the laws”.
“Suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous,” she added.
US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the 7 October attack.
The UN has repeatedly said there is no alternative to UNRWA, which supports nearly 6 million Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The UN has also said that it would be Israel’s responsibility to replace its services.
Israel has rejected UN claims that it would be responsible for filling any gap left by UNRWA.
