UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees slams law banning its operations in Israel

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Monday condemned the Israeli parliament's approval of a bill banning its activities in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem, calling the move "outrageous".

"It's outrageous that a member state of the United Nations is working to dismantle a UN agency which also happens to be the largest responder in the humanitarian operation in Gaza," Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told the media.

"If it's implemented it's a disaster including due to the impact this is likely to have on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in several parts of the West Bank," she said, adding the agency is the lead provider of "shelter, food and primary health care" in war-battered Gaza.

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 later on Monday.

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.

Taken together, these bills would signal a new low in relations between Israel and UNRWA, which Israel accuses of maintaining close ties with Hamas. 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.

Agencies