Israel has stopped the UN's aid agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) on good grounds, according to lawyers from the US Department of State who presented evidence during this week's negotiations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
According to the lawyer Josh Simmons, there is doubt about Unrwa working impartially, referring to allegations and reports that employees have had ties to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Given these concerns, it is clear that Israel has no obligation to allow Unrwa to provide humanitarian aid, says Simmons.
The only alternative?
Simmons says that there are other ways to go. Many voices, including the UN Secretary-General, have emphasized that Unrwa has been the cornerstone of the system that has delivered aid.
Israel has long claimed that Unrwa has been infiltrated by extremists from Hamas, with allegations that a significant part of the approximately 13,000 employees in Gaza have had such ties. The allegations have increased during the war. The UN has investigated them and found that nine employees may have been involved in Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The nine were dismissed.
Currently, Israel has blocked all acute aid to the Gaza Strip for nearly eight weeks, and several organizations are warning of impending famine as the bombs fall.
Aid efforts are being used as a bargaining chip and famine as a weapon against Gaza's population, believes Unrwa's top executive Philippe Lazzarini.
Israel on the attack
Israel effectively stopped Unrwa's work last year. After that, the UN General Assembly decided that the ICJ should assess whether Israel is fulfilling its commitments under international law when it comes to enabling UN-led aid efforts for Gaza's civilians. The USA was one of the few countries that voted against the resolution.
The negotiations at the ICJ are ongoing this week, but Israel has not requested to speak. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar appeared in Jerusalem on Monday and accused the UN's highest judicial body of participating in a systematic persecution of the "world's most attacked country".
Unrwa (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 then forced to flee.
Unrwa has until recently helped around 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. Nearly 90 percent of the donations have come from UN member states. The largest support has come from, among others, the USA, Germany, the EU, Sweden, and Norway.
Over half of Unrwa's budget has gone to education. Around 15 percent has gone to health-promoting measures, according to figures from 2020.
The UN agency has had around 30,000 employees, of whom 13,000 are in Gaza. A majority have been locally employed Palestinians.
