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.
