JERUSALEM: Israeli legislation cutting ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees raised fears that the largest provider of aid to Gaza could be shut out of the war-ravaged territory, even as the implications of the new laws remained unclear Tuesday.
The agency known as UNRWA provides essential services to millions of Palestinians across the Middle East and has underpinned aid efforts in Gaza throughout the Israel-Hamas war. Legislation barring it from operating in Israel passed with an overwhelming majority Monday. Israel says UNRWA has allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas, with the militants siphoning off aid and using the agency’s facilities as shields. UNRWA denies the allegations, saying it is committed to neutrality and acts quickly to address any wrongdoing by its staff.
The two newly passed laws are all but certain to hamper UNRWA’s work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, as Israel controls access to both territories. But the details of how the legislation would be implemented, and potential workarounds, remain unclear. It could also face legal challenges.
Either way, the laws could have major consequences for Palestinians in Gaza, who are heavily reliant on emergency food aid more than a year into a war that has killed tens of thousands, according to local officials who don’t distinguish combatants from civilians; displaced 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million; and left much of the territory in ruins.
What do the laws say?
The first law prohibits UNRWA from “operating any mission, providing any service or conducting any activity, either directly or indirectly, within Israel’s sovereign territory,” according to a statement from parliament.
It’s unclear whether UNRWA would still be able to operate inside Gaza and the West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war but has never formally annexed. The Palestinians want both to be part of a future state.
The second law prohibits Israeli state agencies from communicating with UNRWA and revokes an agreement dating to 1947, before Israel was created, under which it facilitated UNRWA’s work.
With Israel controlling all access to Gaza and the West Bank, it could be difficult for UNRWA staff to enter and leave the territories through Israeli checkpoints, and to bring in vital supplies for its schools, health centers and humanitarian programs.
UNRWA and its staff would also lose their tax exemptions and legal immunities.
How would the laws affect UNRWA’s operations?
UNRWA’s headquarters are in east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally.
Much of the agency’s supply lines to the territories run through Israel, and shutting them down could create even more obstacles to getting essential aid — everything from flour and canned vegetables to winter blankets and mattresses — into Gaza.
At present, all shipments of aid into Gaza must be coordinated with COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs, which inspects all shipments. Aid groups say their work is already hampered by Israeli delays, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order inside Gaza.
Aid levels plunged in the first half of October as Israel closed crossings into north Gaza, where hunger experts say the threat of starvation is most acute. COGAT attributed the decline to closures related to the Jewish holidays and troop movements for a large, ongoing offensive in northern Gaza.
In the first 19 days of October, the UN says, 704 trucks of aid entered the Gaza Strip, down from over 3,018 trucks in September and August. COGAT’s own tracking dashboard shows aid deliveries in October plunging to under a third of their September and August levels.
The new laws would also likely bar UNRWA from banking in Israel, raising questions about how it would continue to pay thousands of Palestinian staff in Gaza and the West Bank. Its international staff would likely have to relocate to third countries like Jordan.
What could replace UNRWA?
Rights groups say Israel is obliged under international law to provide for the basic needs of people in the territories it occupies. Israel also faces increasing pressure from the Biden administration, which says it may have to reduce US military support if there isn’t a dramatic increase in aid going into Gaza.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States was “deeply troubled” by the legislation, which “poses risks for millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services.”
“We are going to engage with the government of Israel in the days ahead about how they plan to implement it” and see whether there are any legal challenges, he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday that Israel is“ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security.”
But many of those partners insist there is no alternative to UNRWA.
A spokesperson for the UN children’s agency, which also provides aid to Gaza, denounced the new laws in unusually strong language, saying “a new way has been found to kill children.”
James Elder said the loss of UNRWA “would likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza.” His agency, known as UNICEF, “would become effectively unable to distribute lifesaving supplies,” such as vaccines, winter clothes, water and food to combat malnutrition.
Israeli officials are considering the possibility of having the military or private contractors take over aid distribution, but have yet to develop a concrete plan, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions.
COGAT referred all questions on the new legislation to the government.
At risk is not just UNRWA’s aid delivery to Gaza, where it is also the largest employer. UNRWA also operates schools in the occupied West Bank serving over 330,000 children, as well as health care centers and infrastructure projects.
Amy Pope — head of the International Organization for Migration, another UN body — said it would not be able to fill the gap left by UNRWA, which she described as “absolutely essential.”
“They provide education. They provide health care. They provide some of the most basic needs, for people who have been living there for decades,” she said.
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Israel’s move to ban UN agency raises alarm about aid to Gaza even as the implications are unclear
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Israel’s move to ban UN agency raises alarm about aid to Gaza even as the implications are unclear
- Legislation barring UNRWA from operating in Israel passed with an overwhelming majority Monday
- The two new laws are all but certain to hamper UNRWA’s work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank
A Kurdish-majority neighborhood in Syria recovers from clashes with hope for the future
ALEPPO: A month after clashes rocked a Kurdish-majority neighborhood in Syria ‘s second-largest city of Aleppo, most of the tens of thousands of residents who fled the fighting between government forces and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have returned — an unusually quick turnaround in a country where conflict has left many displaced for years.
“Ninety percent of the people have come back,” Aaliya Jaafar, a Kurdish resident of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood who runs a hair salon, said Saturday. “And they didn’t take long. This was maybe the shortest displacement in Syria.”
Her family only briefly left their house when government forces launched a drone strike on a lot next door where weapons were stored, setting off explosions.
The Associated Press visited the community that was briefly at the center of Syria’s fragile transition from years of civil war as the new government tries to assert control over the country and gain the trust of minority groups anxious about their security.
Lessons learned
The clashes broke out Jan. 6 in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the SDF reached an impasse in talks on how to merge Syria’s largest remaining armed group into the national army. Security forces captured the neighborhoods after several days of intense fighting during which at least 23 people were killed and more than 140,000 people displaced.
However, Syria’s new government took measures to avoid civilians being harmed, unlike during previous outbreaks of violence between its forces and other groups on the coast and in the southern province of Sweida, during which hundreds of civilians from the Alawite and Druze religious minorities were killed in sectarian revenge attacks.
Before entering the contested Aleppo neighborhoods, the Syrian army opened corridors for civilians to flee.
Ali Sheikh Ahmad, a former member of the SDF-affiliated local police force who runs a secondhand clothing shop in Sheikh Maqsoud, was among those who left. He and his family returned a few days after the fighting stopped.
At first, he said, residents were afraid of revenge attacks after Kurdish forces withdrew and handed over the neighborhood to government forces. But that has not happened. A ceasefire agreement between Damascus and the SDF has been holding, and the two sides have made progress toward political and military integration.
“We didn’t have any serious problems like what happened on the coast or in Sweida,” Sheikh Ahmad said. The new security forces “treated us well,” and residents’ fears began to dissipate.
Jaafar agreed that residents had been afraid at first but that government forces “didn’t harm anyone, to be honest, and they imposed security, so people were reassured.”
The neighborhood’s shops have since reopened and traffic moves normally, but the checkpoint at the neighborhood’s entrance is now manned by government forces instead of Kurdish fighters.
Residents, both Kurds and Arabs, chatted with neighbors along the street. An Arab man who said he was named Saddam after the late Iraqi dictator — known for oppressing the Kurds — smiled as his son and a group of Kurdish children played with a dirty but friendly orange kitten.
Other children played with surgical staplers from a neighborhood hospital that was targeted during the recent fighting, holding them like toy guns. The government accused the SDF of taking over the hospital and using it as a military site, while the SDF said it was sheltering civilians.
One boy, looking pleased with himself, emerged from an alleyway carrying the remnant of an artillery shell.
Economic woes remain
On Friday, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi said he had held a “very productive meeting” with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich to discuss progress made on the integration agreement.
While the security situation is calm, residents said their economic plight has worsened. Many previously relied on jobs with the SDF-affiliated local authorities, who are no longer in charge. And small businesses suffered after the clashes drove away customers and interrupted electricity and other services.
“The economic situation has really deteriorated,” Jaafar said. “For more than a month, we’ve barely worked at all.”
Others are taking a longer view. Sheikh Ahmad said he hopes that if the ceasefire remains in place and the political situation stabilizes, he will be able to return to his original home in the town of Afrin near the border with Turkiye, which his family fled during a 2018 Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces.
Like many Syrians. Sheikh Ahmad has been displaced multiple times since mass protests against the government of then-President Bashar Assad spiraled into a brutal 14-year civil war.
Assad was ousted in November 2024 in an insurgent offensive, but the country has continued to see sporadic outbreaks of violence, and the new government has struggled to win the trust of religious and ethnic minorities.
Hopes for reconciliation
Last month, interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa issued a decree strengthening the rights of Syria’s Kurdish minority, including recognizing Kurdish as a national language along with Arabic and adopting Nowruz, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal marked by Kurds around the region, as an official holiday. Kurds make up about 10 percent of Syria’s population.
The decree also restored the citizenship of tens of thousands of Kurds in northeastern Al-Hasakah province after they were stripped of it during the 1962 census
Sheikh Ahmad said he was encouraged by Al-Sharaa’s attempts to reassure the Kurds that they are equal citizens and hopes to see more than tolerance among Syria’s different communities.
“We want something better than that. We want people to love each other. We’ve had enough of wars after 15 years. It’s enough,” he said.
“Ninety percent of the people have come back,” Aaliya Jaafar, a Kurdish resident of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood who runs a hair salon, said Saturday. “And they didn’t take long. This was maybe the shortest displacement in Syria.”
Her family only briefly left their house when government forces launched a drone strike on a lot next door where weapons were stored, setting off explosions.
The Associated Press visited the community that was briefly at the center of Syria’s fragile transition from years of civil war as the new government tries to assert control over the country and gain the trust of minority groups anxious about their security.
Lessons learned
The clashes broke out Jan. 6 in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the SDF reached an impasse in talks on how to merge Syria’s largest remaining armed group into the national army. Security forces captured the neighborhoods after several days of intense fighting during which at least 23 people were killed and more than 140,000 people displaced.
However, Syria’s new government took measures to avoid civilians being harmed, unlike during previous outbreaks of violence between its forces and other groups on the coast and in the southern province of Sweida, during which hundreds of civilians from the Alawite and Druze religious minorities were killed in sectarian revenge attacks.
Before entering the contested Aleppo neighborhoods, the Syrian army opened corridors for civilians to flee.
Ali Sheikh Ahmad, a former member of the SDF-affiliated local police force who runs a secondhand clothing shop in Sheikh Maqsoud, was among those who left. He and his family returned a few days after the fighting stopped.
At first, he said, residents were afraid of revenge attacks after Kurdish forces withdrew and handed over the neighborhood to government forces. But that has not happened. A ceasefire agreement between Damascus and the SDF has been holding, and the two sides have made progress toward political and military integration.
“We didn’t have any serious problems like what happened on the coast or in Sweida,” Sheikh Ahmad said. The new security forces “treated us well,” and residents’ fears began to dissipate.
Jaafar agreed that residents had been afraid at first but that government forces “didn’t harm anyone, to be honest, and they imposed security, so people were reassured.”
The neighborhood’s shops have since reopened and traffic moves normally, but the checkpoint at the neighborhood’s entrance is now manned by government forces instead of Kurdish fighters.
Residents, both Kurds and Arabs, chatted with neighbors along the street. An Arab man who said he was named Saddam after the late Iraqi dictator — known for oppressing the Kurds — smiled as his son and a group of Kurdish children played with a dirty but friendly orange kitten.
Other children played with surgical staplers from a neighborhood hospital that was targeted during the recent fighting, holding them like toy guns. The government accused the SDF of taking over the hospital and using it as a military site, while the SDF said it was sheltering civilians.
One boy, looking pleased with himself, emerged from an alleyway carrying the remnant of an artillery shell.
Economic woes remain
On Friday, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi said he had held a “very productive meeting” with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich to discuss progress made on the integration agreement.
While the security situation is calm, residents said their economic plight has worsened. Many previously relied on jobs with the SDF-affiliated local authorities, who are no longer in charge. And small businesses suffered after the clashes drove away customers and interrupted electricity and other services.
“The economic situation has really deteriorated,” Jaafar said. “For more than a month, we’ve barely worked at all.”
Others are taking a longer view. Sheikh Ahmad said he hopes that if the ceasefire remains in place and the political situation stabilizes, he will be able to return to his original home in the town of Afrin near the border with Turkiye, which his family fled during a 2018 Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces.
Like many Syrians. Sheikh Ahmad has been displaced multiple times since mass protests against the government of then-President Bashar Assad spiraled into a brutal 14-year civil war.
Assad was ousted in November 2024 in an insurgent offensive, but the country has continued to see sporadic outbreaks of violence, and the new government has struggled to win the trust of religious and ethnic minorities.
Hopes for reconciliation
Last month, interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa issued a decree strengthening the rights of Syria’s Kurdish minority, including recognizing Kurdish as a national language along with Arabic and adopting Nowruz, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal marked by Kurds around the region, as an official holiday. Kurds make up about 10 percent of Syria’s population.
The decree also restored the citizenship of tens of thousands of Kurds in northeastern Al-Hasakah province after they were stripped of it during the 1962 census
Sheikh Ahmad said he was encouraged by Al-Sharaa’s attempts to reassure the Kurds that they are equal citizens and hopes to see more than tolerance among Syria’s different communities.
“We want something better than that. We want people to love each other. We’ve had enough of wars after 15 years. It’s enough,” he said.
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