UN warns Israel’s Unrwa crackdown could cut off aid to millions

The United Nations has warned that Israel’s latest measures targeting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees could strip millions of people of essential services, including education and healthcare.

Israel’s parliament passed legislation on Monday removing diplomatic immunity from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) and banning Israeli companies from supplying water and electricity to its facilities.

Unrwa said the law also empowers the Israeli government to seize the agency’s property in occupied East Jerusalem, including its headquarters and main vocational training centre.

Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the move as “outrageous”, describing it on social media as “part of an ongoing, systematic campaign to discredit Unrwa and thereby obstruct the core role that the agency plays providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine refugees”.

Filippo Grandi, the outgoing head of the UN refugee agency Unhcr and a former Unrwa chief, also criticised the legislation, calling it “very unfortunate”.

Speaking to AFP, Grandi stressed that Unrwa plays a unique role within the UN system by delivering basic public services directly to Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

“If you deprive those people of those services... then you had better find a substitute,” he said, warning: “I think it would be very difficult.”