Israel gives 48 hours to refugee agency to end activities

The people we serve … We cannot tell them what will happen to our services from the end of this week Jonathan Fowler, agency spokesman

Law against entity was passed last year. In October 2024, the Israeli Parliament approved, by 92 to 10, a bill that prevented Unrwa’s activities in the country. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the organization should be held responsible for what he called “terrorist activities” in Israel.

Accusations of anti-Israel prejudice. The Asian nation regularly accuses the organization of involvement with Hamas. The country asks Unrwa’s responsibilities to be assumed by other UN organs, as its main refugee agency.

UN denies the accusations. The United Nations also claim that Unrwa’s experience is irreplaceable, especially in Gaza. The organization also operates in the occupied West Bank, but it was not clear how the law will affect the organization’s work in these places.

Records of employees involved in the October 2023 attack. An investigation from the UN concluded that nine URNWA employees may have been involved in Hamas’s attack. The agency fired them and said that Israel did not provide evidence of a broader involvement of its team. The agency employs about 30,000 people in the region and approximately 13,000 in the Gaza Strip.