With only two days before Israel outlaws operations on its soil of the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday took up the issue at a meeting where the United States was Israel’s sole defender.
The Israeli laws target a 75-year-old agency that has been a backbone of humanitarian aid delivery to two million Palestinians in Gaza, just as a fragile cease-fire is taking hold there. The agency also helps Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem.
On Tuesday, senior U.N. officials and every member of the Security Council save the United States called Israel’s actions a violation of its obligations under international law and the U.N. charter. They warned that the restrictions would have a disastrous impact on aid delivery and jeopardize peace in the long-term.
“The legislation makes a mockery of international law and imposes massive constraints,” said Philippe Lazzarini the chief of the aid agency, known as UNRWA. “We are determined, however, to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so.”
The Trump administration’s interim representative to the U.N., Dorothy Shea, dismissed the agency’s claims as exaggerated, and called warnings that aid will come to a halt “irresponsible and dangerous.” She said the United States supported “Israel’s sovereign decision” to close the aid agency’s offices on its soil.
The legislation, passed by the Israeli Parliament in October, also forbids contact between Israel officials and employees of the agency, which is formally known as he United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Israeli officials have accused the agency of being infiltrated by militants from Hamas, the militant group it has been at war with in Gaza since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel. The twos sides reached a cease-fire a little over week ago.
UNRWA was formed in the wake of the wars surrounding Israel’s establishment in 1948. Its mandate includes providing food, essential aid, health care, education, shelter and other services to Palestinians around the Middle East who were displaced by that conflict, as well as their descendants.
On Tuesday, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told diplomats that Israel’s decision to essentially outlaw the group was not a political one but instead was rooted in national security. He said Israel would cooperate with other U.N. agencies.
Mr. Danon informed the U.N. of Israel’s intention to enforce the law in a letter on Friday He told the council that the legislation targeting UNRWA would come into full effect on Thursday. He said the agency “must cease its operation and evacuate the premises it operates in Jerusalem.”
In a response to Israel’s letter, the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, in a letter on Monday asked Israel to reverse course, said that under international law Israel was obliged to facilitate the work of the agency, not hinder it.
Mr. Guterres said that the premises the aid workers have been ordered to vacate in East Jerusalem are U.N. property that is protected under international law.
At the same time, he said that he took Israeli allegations about ties between UNRWA workers and Hamas very seriously and that he had taken decisive action to address them.
Two U.N. investigations begun in response to Israel complains found that fewer than 10 agency staffers out of 13,000 were affiliated with Hamas. They were fired. The European Union has said Israel failed to show proof for its allegations of broad infiltration and resumed donations to the agency.
Mr. Lazzarini on Tuesday described a pivotal role for his agency in Gaza since the war began. He said it had delivered two-thirds of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced Palestinians and vaccinated a quarter million children against polio.
Tuesday was not the first time the United States has stood alone at the Security Council in defense of Israel, a close ally. The Biden administration vetoed four cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council, standing by Israel, which said it wasn’t ready to end the war. Another close U.S. ally, Britain, was among the 14 other council members speaking out against the Israeli law.
“The vital work of UNRWA in ensuring that Palestinians have access to education and health care must also be protected in Gaza as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” said Britain’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki. “These represent the most fundamental of human rights.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the U.N., told the council that Israel had long worked to dismantle the agency as part of a strategy to strip refugee status away from displaced Palestinians and thus their right to return to their old lands.
“There is no alternative to the Palestinian government, and there is no alternative to UNRWA,” Mr. Mansour said. “Israel does not get to pick and chose who represents the Palestinian people or who represents the U.N.”
