Palestinians brace for disruption of aid, education and health care as UNRWA ban looms

Israel has ordered the UN agency to cease all its activities starting Thursday

Palestinians queueing to get UNRWA aid parcels, on January 21, 2025 in Khan Younis, Gaza. Anadolu

Palestinians are preparing for an Israeli ban on UNRWA that will start on Thursday, ending the provision of education, health care and many other services in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and significantly complicating the aid operation in Gaza.

Officials of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees say they have received no information from Israeli authorities about how to continue their services. Visas of UNRWA's international staff expired on Wednesday, and tomorrow the organisation must vacate all its property in East Jerusalem and cease activities, an order that UNRWA said “is in contradiction to international law obligations of UN member states including the State of Israel”.

The concern is that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will be left in the lurch in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the latter of which has been under particular strain due to an economic crisis and rising Israeli military and settler violence since the start of Israel's war on Gaza.

The Knesset passed laws on October 28 last year to halt the organisation’s activities within Israeli-controlled territory and ban the country’s officials and institutions from interacting with it, despite heavy international criticism. The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the UK had released a statement expressing “grave concern” at the legislation.

“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled, as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset takes effect,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said on Tuesday. “At stake is the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire, and the prospects for a political solution that brings lasting peace and security.”

The drive to get critically needed humanitarian aid into Gaza after a recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is also at risk. Although many UN agencies and aid organisations operate in the strip, UNRWA has unparalleled presence and infrastructure there along with 13,000 staff and 300 premises that make it a key distributor and organiser of humanitarian work.

Displaced Palestinians make their way back to the north of the strip following a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Reuters

Despite the fears and the apparent lack of any contingency planning, there is no sign that Israel is reconsidering its move.

UNRWA has long been unpopular in Israel, where it is accused of tolerating anti-Semitic content in school curriculums, being closely linked to Hamas and of perpetuating the refugee status of Palestinians, which many Israelis say makes ending the Israel-Palestine conflict more difficult.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon speaks during a UN Security Council meeting concerning the UNRWA. AFP

There has been even more hostility since October 7, 2023 with Israel accusing staff members of UNRWA taking part in the Hamas-led attacks and the Israeli army saying it has uncovered Hamas weapons and tunnel entrances at UNRWA centres, including schools.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the Security Council on Tuesday that “Israel remains committed to its commitments under international law”, despite accusations the ban is illegal.

Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Arieh King has announced on X a “celebration ceremony” outside UNRWA’s compound on Thursday.

“You are invited to the celebration ceremony of the initiators of the law against the enemy organisation, the Nazi organisation whose employees were involved in the massacre in the South and the war against [the Israeli military].”

Staff across the UNRWA network say they have no idea what Thursday will bring. Photo: Thomas Helm / The National

At a leafy UNRWA clinic near Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, medical staff buzzed around the small compound next to the Indian Hospice, an 800-year-old institution that remains a rare outpost of calm in the contested city.

They were experiencing a particularly busy day. News of the impending ban prompted locals to book appointments, fearing it might be the last day they could ever use the centre, staff said.

Dr Hamza Jabrin said no one knew what was happening tomorrow. “We treat 150 patients on average every day. So far, at midday, we’ve already had 180,” he said.

Senior staff nurse Manal Khayyat said staff have been told to come to work as usual on the day of the ban.

Jerusalem is home to UNRWA schools and clinics, as well as the organisation's regional headquarters. Photo: Thomas Helm / The National

“The officials told us to come as usual and if they feel safe to do so. We should just all wear our vests,” she explained, pointing to faded purple vests that mark the clinicians as employees of UNRWA.

“If they come and tell us to go home with an official document then we are to go home. I do believe that today is the last day for UNRWA in Jerusalem,” she added.