Israel passes legislation restricting UNRWA

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike on a school run by UNRWA, in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip. (File/AP)

• The bill bans the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel

JERUSALEM: Israeli lawmakers on Monday passed legislation that could threaten the work of the main UN agency providing aid to people in Gaza by barring it from operating on Israeli soil.
The bill bans the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel.
The legislation, which wouldn’t take effect immediately, risks collapsing the already fragile aid distribution process at a moment when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is worsening and Israel is under increased US pressure to ramp up aid.
The vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties.
A second bill severing diplomatic ties with UNRWA was also being voted on later Monday.
Taken together, these bills would signal a new low in relations between Israel and UNRWA, which Israel accuses of maintaining close ties with Hamas militants. The changes would also be a serious blow to the agency and to Palestinians in Gaza who have become reliant upon it for aid throughout more than a year of devastating war.
The bills risk crippling the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.