The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that it has formally notified the UN of this. The announcement follows a decision in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, last week, where UNRWA was banned from operating on Israeli territory and with Israeli authorities.
This has been criticized on a broad front, including by a unanimous Security Council, where even Israel's ally, the US, supported a "strong warning against attempts to dismantle or reduce UNRWA's efforts and mandate".
If this law is implemented, it is likely to mean that the international humanitarian effort in Gaza, an effort where UNRWA forms the backbone, will collapse, says the aid organization's spokesperson Jonathan Fowler to AFP on Monday.
Certain measures were taken
Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon writes on social media that his country has presented "overwhelming evidence" showing how UNRWA has been infiltrated by the Islamist movement Hamas, according to him without anything happening.
Israel has accused UNRWA employees of having ties to terrorist-listed Hamas for almost a year now. The allegations led several major donors, including Sweden, to pause payments to the aid organization almost immediately. Several countries have since resumed their support, including Sweden.
According to Israel, more than one-tenth of UNRWA's approximately 13,000 employees in Gaza have "terror links". The UN has investigated the allegations and earlier this year found that nine employees may have been involved in Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 last year. The nine have been dismissed.
Other collaborations?
In the so-called Six-Day War in 1967, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee when Israel took control of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel then requested that UNRWA remain in these areas and assist in the work with refugees, and it is this formal request that is now being withdrawn.
Israel announces to the UN that the country will cooperate with other aid organizations and UN agencies to ensure that "humanitarian support is provided to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not undermine Israel's security".
The Israeli legislation will come into effect in three months.
UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, was founded after the war that broke out in connection with Israel's establishment in 1948, with the aim of helping the over 750,000 Palestinians who were forced to flee.
Today, UNRWA helps around 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. Nearly 90 percent of the donations come from UN member states. The largest support has come from, among others, the US, Germany, the EU, Sweden, and Norway.
Over half of UNRWA's budget goes to education. Around 15 percent goes to health-promoting measures, according to figures from 2020.
The UN agency has around 30,000 employees, of whom 13,000 are in Gaza. A majority are locally employed Palestinians.
