Israel proposes dismantlement of UNRWA in exchange for allowing more aid into Gaza

Update Israel proposes dismantlement of UNRWA in exchange for allowing more aid into Gaza
Right-wing Israeli protesters gather outside the West Bank field office of the UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, in Jerusalem on March 20, 2024, to demand its closure. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 01 April 2024
Follow

Israel proposes dismantlement of UNRWA in exchange for allowing more aid into Gaza

Israel proposes dismantlement of UNRWA in exchange for allowing more aid into Gaza
  • Israel alleges, without proof, UNRWA staff involved in Oct. 7 attacks
  • Plan ‘outrageous,’ undermines UN authority, says ex-UNRWA official

LONDON: Israel has proposed to the UN the dismantlement of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, and suggested transitioning its responsibilities and staff to a new entity in exchange for allowing more food aid deliveries into Gaza, the Guardian reported on Sunday.

The proposal was presented by Israel’s Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi in discussions with UN officials in Israel earlier in March. These officials then relayed the proposal to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions told the Guardian.

UNRWA, the main humanitarian organization operating in the Palestinian territories since 1950, was not involved in the talks because the Israel Defense Forces have refused to deal with it. This is on the basis of unverified claims that some of the agency’s staff participated in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

The IDF has yet to substantiate these claims, which have prompted a suspension of $450 million in funding from 16 major donors. This funding freeze comes at a critical time as Israel’s blockade is driving 2.3 million residents of Gaza to the brink of famine.

The proposal details the transition of 300 to 400 UNRWA staff to either an existing UN agency, like the World Food Programme, WFP, or a newly established organization focused on food distribution in Gaza.

The plan includes the eventual transfer of more UNRWA employees and assets, though it remains unclear who would manage the new entity or ensure the security of its operations.

Tamara Alrifai, the agency’s director of external relations, highlighted concerns that the proposed new entity’s limited scale would undermine effective aid distribution in Gaza, emphasizing UNRWA’s extensive infrastructure and human resource capabilities.

“This is no criticism of WFP, but logically if they were to start food distribution in Gaza tomorrow, they’re going to use UNRWA trucks and bring food into UNRWA warehouses, and then distribute food in or around UNRWA shelters,” she told the Guardian.

“So they’re going to need at a minimum the same infrastructure that we have, including the human resources.”

UNRWA is by far the largest aid organization in Gaza, employing 13,000 people when the war broke out, 3,000 of whom are still working. In addition to distributing food, the agency is a major employer in Gaza, providing education and critical medical services as the enclave’s healthcare system crumbles.

“It’s not just food. We have seven healthcare centers now running in Gaza, we give 23,000 consultations every day, and we have administered 53,000 vaccines since the war started. So that in itself is an entire field that no other agency right now can offer,” Alrifai said.

“It’s great that we’re focusing on food because of the famine, and we are raising the alarm about malnutrition, but UNRWA is so much more than food distribution.”

Some UN officials see the Israeli plan as an attempt to portray the UN as unwilling to cooperate if there is famine in Gaza, which humanitarian organizations have warned is impending.

Others in the UN, several aid agencies, and human rights organizations see the Israeli proposal as the result of a long-running campaign to eliminate UNRWA.

“If we allow this, it is the slippery slope to us being completely managed directly by the Israelis, and the UN directly being complicit in undermining UNRWA, which is not only the biggest aid provider but also the biggest bastion of anti-extremism in Gaza,” one UN official told the Guardian. “We would be playing into so many political agendas if we allowed this to happen.”

The US has privately endorsed Israel’s proposal to integrate the functions of UNRWA into other UN agencies. However, this initiative has faced opposition from various donors and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has consistently supported UNRWA.

During a visit last week to a refugee camp in Jordan, Guterres emphasized the importance of UNRWA, adding that it would be “cruel and incomprehensible” to stop its services to Palestinians.

UNRWA’s authority and continuation are sanctioned by the UN General Assembly, which is the only body with the power to determine the agency’s destiny.

Several UN aid officials assert that only UNRWA has the resources and trust of ordinary Palestinians to deliver food aid to Gaza. And that attempting to create a new aid organization for political reasons in response to Israeli demands amid its relentless bombardment of Gaza would be disastrous.

“It is outrageous that UN agencies like WFP and senior UN officials are engaging in discussions about dismantling UNRWA,” former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness told the Guardian. “The General Assembly gives UNRWA its mandate and only the General Assembly can change it, not the secretary-general and certainly not a single member state.”

Battleground: Jerusalem
The biblical battle for the Holy City

Enter


keywords

US believes Israel, Lebanon have agreed terms to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict

US believes Israel, Lebanon have agreed terms to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict
Updated 9 sec ago
Follow

US believes Israel, Lebanon have agreed terms to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict

US believes Israel, Lebanon have agreed terms to end Israel-Hezbollah conflict
WASHINGTON: Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Axios reported on Monday citing an unnamed senior US official.
Israel’s government on Monday said it was moving toward a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah but there were still outstanding issues.

Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister

Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister
Updated 7 min ago
Follow

Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister

Arrest Warrant: UK would follow ‘due process’ if Netanyahu were to visit – foreign minister
  • ICC issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Several EU states have said they will meet commitments under the statute if needed

FIUGGI: Britain would follow due process if Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UK, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday, when asked if London would fulfil the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
“We are signatories to the Rome Statute, we have always been committed to our obligations under international law and international humanitarian law,” Lammy told reporters at a G7 meeting in Italy.
“Of course, if there were to be such a visit to the UK, there would be a court process and due process would be followed in relation to those issues.”
The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes against humanity.
Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.
“The states that signed the Rome convention must implement the court’s decision. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.
Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.

 

 


Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life
Updated 25 November 2024
Follow

Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Istanbul: A 33-year-old Turkish man shot dead seven people in Istanbul on Sunday, including his parents, his wife and his 10-year-old son, before taking his own life, the authorities reported on Monday.
The man, who was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting, is also accused of wounding two other family members, one of them seriously, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement.
The authorities, who had put the death toll at four on Sunday evening, announced on Monday the discovery near a lake on Istanbul’s European shore of the bodies of the killer’s wife and son, as well as the lifeless body of his mother-in-law.
According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), a Swiss research program, over 13.2 million firearms are in circulation in Turkiye, most of them illegally, for a population of around 85 million.


2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA
Updated 25 November 2024
Follow

2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA
  • The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night

Yabad: The Palestinian Authority said two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank village of Yabad.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night, leading to clashes during which soldiers shot dead two Palestinians.
The two dead were identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Muhammad Rabie Hamarsheh, 13, and Ahmad Mahmud Zaid, 20.
“Overnight, during an IDF (Israeli army) counterterrorism activity in the area of Yabad, two terrorists hurled explosives at IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and hits were identified,” an Israeli military source told AFP.
Last week, the Israeli army launched several raids in the West Bank city of Jenin, killing nine people, most of them Palestinian militants.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 777 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.


Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike
Updated 25 November 2024
Follow

Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike
  • The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday
  • Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army on Monday said it had struck a Hezbollah command center in the downtown Beirut neighborhood of Basta in a deadly air strike at the weekend.
“The IDF (Israeli military) struck a Hezbollah command center,” the army said regarding the strike that the Lebanese health ministry said killed 29 people and wounded 67 on Saturday.
The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday, leaving a large crater, AFP journalists at the scene reported.
A senior Lebanese security source said that “a high-ranking Hezbollah officer was targeted” in the strike, without confirming whether or not the official had been killed.
Hezbollah official Amin Cherri said no leader of the Lebanese movement was targeted in Basta.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The war followed nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.
The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September this year.
On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.