Since Israel passed the law banning the agency last year, its facilities — schools and health centers — and its headquarters have repeatedly been closed, raided or left unprotected. Israel has contended the agency perpetuates Palestinians’ refugee status, while UNRWA supporters have said Israel’s attacks on the agency are aimed at sidelining the issue — one of the most contentious dividing Israelis and Palestinians.
“This comes in the wake of other steps taken by Israeli authorities to erase the Palestine Refugee identity,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, said in a statement on X. “This must be a wake-up call. What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world.”
Under President Donald Trump, the United States cut funding for the agency in 2018. President Joe Biden restored it in 2021 and later paused funding in 2024.
Israel’s ban on UNRWA dovetailed with broader efforts to deregister aid groups operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has passed laws requiring nongovernmental organizations not hire staff involved in activities that “delegitimize Israel” or support boycotts, demanding they register lists of names as a condition of being allowed to work.
Israel told dozens of groups — including Doctors Without Borders and CARE — that their licenses would expire at the end of 2025. The organizations say the rules are arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.