On Thursday, the law, which was passed in October, bans UNRWA from operating on Israeli land, including in occupied East Jerusalem, and contact with Israeli authorities is forbidden.
UNRWA has supported Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East for more than 70 years, but its work has frequently caused conflict between the organization and Israeli officials.
Without providing any proof, Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA employees of being involved in the September 7 attack.
Ahead of the ban coming into effect, Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said that “humanitarian aid doesn’t equal UNRWA”, adding that , “alternative” organisations exist that can facilitate aid into the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by human rights group Adalah to contest the ban.
The court did point out that the law only “prohibites UNRWA activity on the sovereign territory of the State of Israel” but does not “prohibits UNRWA activity in the areas of Judea-Samaria [occupied West Bank] and the Gaza Strip”
The ceasefire, which also includes bringing in humanitarian supplies for the organization and those in need, may collapse, according to UNRWA spokesman Juliette Touma, who stated concerns about the potential repercussions of the ban.
“Fierce disinformation campaign”
On Tuesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council that his organisation has delivered “two-thirds of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons” since October 2023.
More than half a million people have been served by UNRWA, which has since the ceasefire started. We conduct some 17, 000 medical consultations every day”, he said.
Lazzarini added that UNRWA had been victim to a “fierce disinformation campaign” to “portray the agency as a terrorist organisation”.
Former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna released a report to the UN in April 2024 that looked into Israeli claims that UNRWA employed Hamas members.
Israel did not provide any evidence to back up its claims, despite the findings that the report found that there were some “neutrality related issues.”
‘ Without it, we would suffocate ‘
UNRWA has embodied the hope of refugees who have fled their homes since its 1949 creation to serve and deal with the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced to flee Israel for good.
At least 5.9 million Palestinians in Palestine and neighboring countries are served by the organization, which employs 30, 000 workers, primarily Palestinian refugees and a small number of international employees.
Sitting in front of the rubble of his destroyed home in Khan Younis, 74-year-old Abu Nael Hamouda described UNRWA as “a lifeline across generations” – one that has provided education, healthcare and food in times of peace and war alike.
According to Hamouda, who himself was born in Majdal, “UNRWA is the lung that Palestinian refugees breathe from.” As a child, he was forced to leave Majdal because it became a part of Ashkelon in Israel.
Source: Aljazeera
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