Palestine denounces Israel decision to cancel agreement recognising UNRWA

Palestinians have decried an Israeli decision to withdraw from a 1967 agreement that recognises the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Anadolu Agency reports.

Israel officially informed the UN on Sunday of its decision to withdraw from the agreement regarding the UNRWA, citing “security concerns”.

Palestinian Authority spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, accused Israel of “ignoring all international norms, charters, resolutions and international humanitarian law,” according to the official news agency, Wafa.

He said that Israel’s targeting of UNRWA was aimed at “eliminating the right of return and obstructing its activities and role”.

Abu Rudeineh called on the international community “to take serious and tangible steps on the ground against Israel”, and to hold it responsible for the repercussions of its decision.

Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas, called the Israeli decision on UNRWA “a disregard and contempt for the UN system”.

READ: Dismantling UNRWA to deprive Palestinian children of learning, agency chief warns

It called the Israeli decision an attempt to “obliterate the international and UN witness to the Palestinian refugees cause.”

Hamas urged the international community to stand firmly against the Israeli decision which “defies international legitimacy”.

In a letter addressed to UN General Assembly President, Philemon Yang, the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that the withdrawal relates to the 1967 agreement concerning UNRWA’s operations in support of Palestinian refugees.

On 28 October, 92 members of the 120-seat Israeli Knesset, or parliament, voted in favour of a ban on activities of UNRWA in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, a move that was widely condemned worldwide, including by European and Western countries and international organisations.

Israel has accused UNRWA employees of complicity in last year’s Hamas attack, alleging that the Agency’s educational programs “promote terrorism and hatred”.

Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.

UNRWA, headquartered in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, denies the accusations and asserts that it remains neutral, solely focusing on supporting refugees.

Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since the 7 October, 2023 attack by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Nearly 43,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 102,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

READ: Israel officially informs UN of end to relations with Palestinian relief agency