Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians find shelter in UNRWA-run schools. Other humanitarian groups say the agency’s robust, decades-old infrastructure in Gaza is irreplaceable. So far, Israel has not proposed any plans to deliver food, medicine and other supplies to the people of Gaza in the absence of UNRWA.

Israel claims Hamas and other militants infiltrated UNRWA, using its facilities and accepting aid – claims for which it has provided little evidence. The laws, passed by Parliament this week, sever all ties with UNRWA and ban its operations in Israel.

And because the agency’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank must pass through Israeli authorities, the laws threaten to end its activities there too. The laws are expected to take effect in three months.

If the Israeli decision is implemented, “it would be a total disaster, it would be like throwing the baby out with the water,” Lazzarini told the AP, speaking in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where he is participating in a conference to discuss the issue. Conflict in the Middle East.

“It would create a void. It would also fuel further instability in the West Bank and Gaza,” he said. “If UNRWA ended its activities within three months, it would also mean more deaths in Gaza. »

He said the agency was looking for “creative ways to continue our operations.” He called for support from the United Nations General Assembly and donors to continue providing services and called on Israel to reverse the decision or extend the grace period by three months. said Israel did not officially communicate with the agency after the laws were passed.

For decades, UNRWA has operated networks of schools, medical facilities and other services around Gaza and the West Bank – as well as neighboring Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. In Gaza in particular, it plays a major role in maintaining social services and the economy, as the territory’s largest employer and a source of education and health care for much of the population.

The laws threaten to shut down all of these operations, impacting the education and well-being of hundreds of thousands of children in the future, he said.

“Today in Gaza we have one in two people under the age of 18, including 650,000 girls and boys living in the rubble, deeply traumatized at primary and secondary school age,” he said. he declared. “Getting rid of UNRWA is also a way of telling these children that you will have no future. We are simply sacrificing your education. Education is the only thing that has never been taken away from the Palestinians.

UNRWA was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war that surrounded Israel’s creation. It now offers support to refugees and their descendants, who number 6 million in the region.

Lazzarini said the Israeli laws are the “culmination of years of attacks on the agency.” He said “the goal is to deprive Palestinians of refugee status.”

International law gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants the right to return home. Israel refused to allow their return, saying it would end the country’s Jewish majority. Israel has said refugees should be welcomed by their host countries, and officials often say UNRWA services keep Palestinians’ hopes of return alive.

In a letter to the UN, Lazzarini said Israeli laws and the campaign against the agency “will not end the refugee status of Palestinians, which exists independently of UNRWA services, but will seriously harm their life and their future.

Israel claims hundreds of Palestinian militants work for UNRWA, without providing evidence, and that more than a dozen employees participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the latest war .

The UN fired nine staff members after internal investigations revealed they may have participated in the attack. UNRWA has nearly 30,000 employees in the region, including 13,000 in Gaza, most of them Palestinians. Israel also says Hamas fighters operate in UNRWA schools and other facilities in Gaza – and have hit many of them with airstrikes.

UNRWA denies knowingly aiding armed groups and says it is moving quickly to eliminate any suspected militants from its ranks.

Lazzarini said Israel had not responded to UNRWA’s inquiries for details on other allegations, including that the agency’s premises were used by militant groups. With the fighting continuing, the agency was unable to verify the claims, he said and called for an independent investigation. investigation.

At least 237 UNRWA personnel have been killed in the Gaza war, a toll among UN personnel not seen in any other conflict. More than 200 UNRWA facilities were damaged or destroyed, killing more than 560 people sheltering there.

Lazzarini spoke on the sidelines of the conference of the Global Alliance for a Two-State Solution, an initiative created by the Saudi government attended by foreign ministers from Arab, Muslim, African and European countries.

“If we are to succeed in any future political transition, we need an agency like UNRWA that takes care of the education and primary health of Palestinian refugees” until there is a state or a viable and operational administration to do so, he said.