Why is Israel so determined to destroy UNRWA?

Having failed to dismantle UNRWA, the UN organization responsible for the welfare of millions of Palestine refugees, Israel is now resorting to blackmailing the Palestinian Authority to replace the organization in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Last week, as Arab and some Western countries ratcheted up diplomatic pressure on the Trump administration to secure a role for the PA in governing postwar Gaza, Israel suggested that Ramallah could have a role in Gaza if the Palestinian body shuttered all UNRWA offices across its territories, with particular emphasis on Gaza, while transferring complete responsibility for civilian needs to the PA. Israel further insisted on transforming refugee camps into standard neighborhoods or towns and abolishing the refugee designation throughout PA areas.

Israel’s onslaught on UNRWA, which was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949, has been going on for years. It picked up in 2017, particularly under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called for the dismantling of the organization and the folding of its responsibilities into other UN agencies. The logic behind this extreme policy was to end the status of Palestine refugees, which is passed on to offspring and which remains one of the most complex final-status issues under the Oslo Accords.

UNRWA is responsible for Palestinian refugees not only in the Occupied Territories, but also in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The number of refugees registered with the organization in the Occupied Territories is 1.2 million in Gaza and more than 900,000 in the West Bank. But there are also more than 2.1 million in Jordan, 528,000 in Syria and 452,000 in Lebanon. UNRWA provides essential services in 27 refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The fate of Palestinian refugees remains one of the most difficult challenges for Israel and the host countries

Osama Al-Sharif

The fate of Palestinian refugees, whose right of return to their homes is recognized under UN resolutions and international law and conventions, remains one of the most difficult challenges for Israel and the host countries. In the years following the signing of the Oslo Accords, when Israel and the PA were engaged in peace negotiations, Tel Aviv accepted the principle of a symbolic token return of Palestinians. But since such talks collapsed more than a decade ago, a more hard-line position, which rejects the right of return as well as the principle of a two-state solution, has become the official Israeli stance.

Israel used the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks to smear the UN organization, accusing it of collaborating with Hamas and calling on donor countries to defund UNRWA. The US and other countries suspended financial backing of UNRWA, driving it to the brink of collapse. But extensive investigations exonerated the organization of complicity in the Oct. 7 attacks. Much of the financial support has been restored — although not by the US — but the UN body remains severely underfunded, especially with the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza unfolding.

While Israel and the US have made it almost impossible for UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to the more than 2 million displaced Gazans, they attempted to replace it in the Strip by setting up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in February amid reports of widespread famine and disease. This was a disaster that led to the killing of more than 2,600 Palestinian civilians while trying to access aid, with most deaths occurring around the group’s distribution points. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was disbanded last month.

Israel’s attack on UNRWA and the refugee question took a different route earlier this year, when Tel Aviv launched a massive military operation targeting three refugee camps in the northern West Bank. According to UNRWA, Operation Iron Wall, as it was known, resulted in the displacement of more than 30,000 people from Tulkarem, Nur Shams, and Jenin camps alone — the largest West Bank displacement outside Gaza since 1967.

Other UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations said the operation, which began in January, brought the total number of Palestinian refugees uprooted from Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Far’a to about 40,000, with the camps “virtually emptied” and many residents still unable to return months later.

Now Israel is suggesting that some residents can return, provided the PA replaces UNRWA and that these camps be turned into residential areas, with the designation “refugee” being dropped altogether from both the residents and the camps.

Israel used the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks to smear the UN organization, accusing it of collaborating with Hamas

Osama Al-Sharif

But UNRWA is not going anywhere despite Israel’s open war on it. Last Friday, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution extending the mandate of UNRWA by three more years, as well as five other resolutions as part of a so-called Palestinian package. In the vote on UNRWA activities, 145 countries voted in favor, 10 opposed and 18 abstained.

In retaliation, the Israeli police raided the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem early on Monday, pulling down the UN flag and replacing it with an Israeli flag. Police motorcycles, trucks and forklifts were brought in and all communications were cut, a UNRWA spokesperson said, while furniture, IT equipment and other property were seized.

Israel was following up on legislation passed by the Knesset in late 2024 that banned UNRWA from operating in Israel and East Jerusalem, prohibited official contact with the agency and paved the way for the termination of the 1967 agreement that allowed it to function there.

But the ban has been rejected by the International Court of Justice, which in October issued an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations regarding the presence and activities of the UN, other international organizations and third states in relation to the Occupied Territories.

The world court found that Israel, as the occupying power, is obliged to agree to and facilitate UNRWA’s relief operations and it may not unilaterally ban or obstruct the agency in a way that deprives the population of essential humanitarian assistance. It also rejected Israel’s claim that “infiltration” by Hamas or bias by UNRWA justified cutting cooperation and affirmed that UNRWA plays an indispensable role that cannot be quickly replaced without a proper transition ensuring equivalent protection and aid.

Israel, as expected, has not accepted the ruling, nor has it changed its policy of dismantling not only UNRWA but the foundations of the Palestinian cause. These foundations include the land, which is occupied and is being annexed and colonized; the people, who are being displaced, terrorized, murdered and incarcerated; the right of return for millions of refugees; and the right to self-determination. These pillars are being taken down one by one and the onslaught against UNRWA is a crucial part of erasing the Palestinian cause.

• Osama Al-Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman. X: @plato010