Following the news that the Israeli Parliament has passed a law prohibiting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Israel, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, has stated:
“This inadmissible law is a direct attack on the rights of Palestinian refugees. It is clearly designed to prevent the UN Palestine Refugee Agency from operating in occupied Palestinian territory by forcing the closure of its headquarters in East Jerusalem and suspending visas for its staff. “It involves the criminalization of humanitarian aid and will aggravate an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.”
“UNRWA has played a vital role in providing food, water, medical care, education and shelter to the nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza who have suffered forced displacement and planned famine and are at serious risk of genocide due to the relentless Israel’s offensive in the last 12 months. This law is contrary to the order of the International Court of Justice to Israel to ensure sufficient humanitarian aid and provide basic services.”
“UNRWA has been a lifeline for the Palestinian refugee population in the occupied territory of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and in neighboring countries during the 75 years since its founding. The plight of the Palestinian people would be even worse if it were not for the tireless work of UNRWA over those three quarters of a century.
This atrocious and inhumane law will only exacerbate the suffering of the Palestinian population, who have endured unimaginable hardship since the abhorrent attacks by Hamas and other armed groups began in southern Israel a year ago, and who need global support more than ever. . The international community must be quick to condemn it in the strongest terms and exert all its influence on the Israeli government to repeal it.”
Additional information
Founded in 1949, UNRWA is the UN agency that supports humanitarian aid and human development for Palestinian refugees. It is financed almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States.
UNRWA has defined as Palestinian refugees “people whose place of habitual residence, between June 1946 and May 1948, was historic Palestine and who lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.”
At a time when Israel, the occupying power, continues to flagrantly violate its obligations towards the Palestinian refugee population in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, UNRWA has long been the only lifeline by offering essential humanitarian aid, education and shelter. The agency also provides desperately needed aid to millions of Palestinian refugees living in neighboring Arab countries.
In January 2024, more than a dozen States and the European Union announced the suspension of their sending of funds to UNRWA following allegations of involvement of certain members of its staff in attacks carried out by Hamas and other armed groups in southern Israel on October 7. UNRWA suddenly dismissed nine members of its staff based on complaints made at the time.
Almost all States that had previously suspended their allocation of funds to UNRWA have now restored their financial support; In the case of the United States, these funds will remain frozen at least until March 2025.
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact press@amnesty.org
