The Israeli Knesset recently passed two laws that ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the primary provider of assistance to Palestinians.
The bills prohibit UNRWA from operating or providing services in any territory controlled by Israel and ban any communication between the Israeli government and UNRWA.
UNRWA serves almost six million Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. These bills will effectively destroy much of the remaining aid infrastructure in Gaza and disrupt medical systems, education, aid distribution, and more for over 870,000 UNRWA registered refugees in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Efforts to eliminate UNRWA are illegal under international law and will only amplify the genocide and ethnic cleansing Israel is enacting in Gaza while also undermining long term prospects for peace. The Israeli government is not only deliberately blocking humanitarian and medical aid to people who are starving and dying, it is undermining support for Palestine refugees and the international legal framework protecting their rights.
We are calling on the international community to take immediate action to stop these attacks on UNRWA from moving forward, and we are calling on the U.S. to institute an immediate arms embargo on Israel.
