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A
Palestinian man who retuned briefly to eastern Deir al-Balah in central Gaza
Strip to check on his home, reacts at the sight of the devastation as he sits
next to a woman amid the rubble, after Israeli troops pulled out from some
blocks in the area in August, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel
and the Hamas militant group.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, whose
operations in Israel were banned by the Israeli parliament on Monday, is seen
by some as an “irreplaceable” humanitarian lifeline in Gaza, but as an
accomplice of Hamas by others.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has for more than seven decades provided essential
aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees.
The agency has also long been a lightening rod
for harsh Israeli criticism, which has ramped up dramatically since the start
of the war in Gaza, following Hamas’s deadly 7 October attacks last year.
UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to
Gaza, has seen more than 220 of its staff killed in the war there—even as it
has faced dramatic funding cuts and calls for its dismantlement amid Israeli
accusations that some of its workers took part in the October 7 attack.
Created in wake of war
UNRWA was established in December 1949 by the
UN General Assembly in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli conflict following
Israel’s creation in May 1948.
The agency, which began its operations on 1
May, 1950, was tasked with assisting some 750,000 Palestinians who had been
expelled during the war.
It was supposed to be a short-term fix, but in
the absence of a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, the General
Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, most recently extending it
until 30 June, 2026
Millions of refugees
The number of
Palestinian refugees under its charge has meanwhile ballooned to nearly six
million across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Palestinian refugees
are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during
the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of
livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict”.
Their descendents
also have refugee status.
Operations
UNRWA is unique among
UN organisations in its direct service delivery model, and is the main provider
of basic public services, including education, healthcare, and social services
for registered Palestinian refugees.
It employs more than
30,000 people, mainly Palestinian refugees and a small number of international
staff.
The organisation
counts 58 official refugee camps and runs more than 700 schools for over
540,000 students.
It also runs 141
primary healthcare facilities, with nearly seven million patient visits each
year, and provides emergency food and cash assistance to some 1.8 million
people.
UNRWA in Gaza
In the Gaza Strip,
controlled by Hamas since 2007, the humanitarian situation was already critical
before the war between Israel and Hamas began last October, with more than 80
percent of the population living below the poverty line.
The territory,
squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, counts eight camps
and around 1.7 million refugees, the overwhelming majority of the population of
2.4 million, according to the UN.
The situation has
spiralled into catastrophe following Hamas’s deadly attack inside Israel on
October 7, 2023.
Israel’s retaliatory
military offensive has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly civilians,
according to figures from the territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by
the UN.
Two-thirds of
buildings have been damaged and nearly the entire population of Gaza has been
displaced, many of them multiple times, the UN says.
“In the midst of all
the upheaval, UNRWA, more than ever, is indispensable. UNRWA, more than ever,
is irreplaceable,” UN chief Antonio Guterres has said.
UNRWA, which employs
some 13,000 people in Gaza, has seen two-thirds of its facilities there damaged
or destroyed.
Israeli criticism
Israel has long been
harshly critical of UNRWA, alleging it is perpetuating the Palestinian refugee
problem and that its schools use textbooks that promote hatred of Israel.
Since October 7, the
criticism has ballooned, targeting UNRWA in Gaza especially.
In January, Israel
accused a dozen of UNRWA’s Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7
attack by Hamas.
A series of probes
found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA, and determined that nine
employees “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack, but found no
evidence for Israel’s chief allegations.
The agency, which
traditionally has been funded almost exclusively through voluntary
contributions from governments, was plunged into crisis as a string of nations halted
their backing over Israel’s allegations.
Most donors have since resumed funding.
The barrage of
accusations has meanwhile continued, with Israel alleging UNRWA employs
“hundreds of Hamas members and even military wing operatives” in Gaza.
Despite objections
from the United States and warnings from the UN Security Council, Israeli
lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly passed a bill banning UNRWA from working in
Israel and occupied east Jerusalem
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