THE Unrwa is the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees, established in 1948 to assist those who suffered permanent displacement due to the aftermath of the First Arab-Israeli War and the creation of the Jewish state. We have heard a lot about it since October 7, the day Palestinian extremists crossed the border and attacked Israeli kibbutzim. Netanyahu accuses UNRWA employees of being nothing less than accomplices of Hamas, the extremist group in power in Gaza since 2006. We are hearing a lot about this today because this agency was declared illegal by two votes, which correspond to so many laws of the Israeli parliament. . This will make it even more difficult, if not impossible, for the agency to operate. The WHO has in fact described this decision as “intolerable” because it will have “devastating consequences”. These are the words of the Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, entrusted to “X”. “This violates Israel’s obligations and responsibilities and threatens the lives and health of all those who depend on UNRWA,” he added. But what is UNRWA doing?

Unrwa, which UN agency is banned by Israel?

The agency mainly deals with basic needs: from education to health care and other basic services for millions of Palestinian refugees, especially children. In this historic moment, where Israel has been launching a military operation in Gaza for a year aimed at eradicating Hamas, responsible for the October 7 attacks, UNRWA is necessary to maintain the displaced population. Since schools, universities, hospitals, places of worship, bakeries, water, sewage and electrical systems, roads and agricultural land have been largely destroyed by the actions of the IDF (military Israeli), this becomes important access to food and basic products. care. There is a huge humanitarian problem in Gaza: famine and risk of epidemic. The Health Ministry of Hamas, which politically controls the Gaza Strip, reports the killing of more than 43,000 people, most of them women and children.

Israel does not trust and believes that Unrwa coincides entirely with Hamas

After October 7, IDF investigations and patrols revealed very strong and deep ties between the UN agency and Hamas, the pro-Iranian Islamic extremists who have ruled the Gaza Strip since 2006 (after this year, no elections took place). In January, the Israeli government accused twelve UNRWA employees of participating in massacres committed by Hamas. The director of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, reports, however, that he has not received any official report from the Israeli authorities detailing the nature of the alleged acts of the incriminated employees. The UN has launched its investigation, and while awaiting the outcome of this investigation, many Western countries have suspended their aid. The agency was also accused of having knowledge of a Hamas tunnel built under its central office in Gaza. 99% of the staff of UNRWA, which has 30,000 members, including 13,000 in Gaza, is Palestinian. According to Israel, these are all militants, collateral of Hamas, to whom they would allocate aid and services for refugees.

What decisions has Israel made regarding UNRWA?

On Monday evening, the Israeli Parliament approved two texts banning UNRWA activities in the country. The first law passed by the Knesset had the effect of prohibiting the activities of UNRWA on Israeli “sovereign territory”, and therefore on East Jerusalem, conquered during the Six Day War in 1967, before being annexed. by a vote in the Knesset in 1980. The eastern part of Jerusalem is still considered occupied by the United Nations and most of the international community.

This law, proposed by Boaz Bismuth, MP for Likud (the party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), was adopted with 92 votes for and 10 against. The second bill (adopted by 87 votes for and 9 against) aims to suspend all contact between state representatives in Israel and UNRWA, as well as with its employees. The text, which should come into force within 90 days, should put an end to the issuance of visas for foreign UNRWA employees, but above all prevent the passage of goods and personnel necessary for the operation of the agency. This could result in depriving 46,000 children with refugee status in the West Bank and East Jerusalem of education (in addition to the 625,000 students in Gaza).

International reactions and what our government says

Germany, France, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea warn that this law passed by Israel could have “devastating consequences”. Italy has also adopted a similar position. For months, our government has been active on several fronts, both diplomatic and operational, to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Gaza Strip has been hit for more than a year by the military action of the Israeli army which, in addition to bombings, applies a very severe blockade and filtering of everything that enters the strip, where even the Entry of independent journalists is not permitted. . The decision to ban UNRWA activity “risks weakening the role of the UN”. This is the comment of Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. “We regret that this choice was made, although we understand some of the reasons that provoke Israel’s reaction: there were too many Hamas militants who participated in the October 7 massacre among the UNRWA representatives; j “I hope this never happens again, and we are convinced that it will not,” added Tajani, who is in Slovenia’s Ljubljana. “As the Italian government we support the UNRWA initiative outside the Palestinian territory”, where “we work very well with the WFP”.