Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) since 1967, the country’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
Last month, the Israeli parliament passed legislation banning UNRWA from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from cooperating with the organization, which provides aid and education services to millions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, set up in the wake of the 1948 war that broke out at the time of the creation of the state of Israel, accusing it of anti-Israel bias and saying it perpetuates the conflict by maintaining Palestinians in a permanent refugee status.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October last year, it has also said that the organization has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Legal and political implications
WHAT IS UNRWA?
The U.N. General Assembly created the agency in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees following a war surrounding the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians were displaced.
UNRWA has been active for decades in the Gaza Strip and for the past year has sought to aid civilians caught up in Israel’s war against Hamas militants in the enclave, where many of the 2.3 million people are suffering from a lack of shelter, food and medical care.
WHAT HAS THE UNITED NATIONS SAID?
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said Israel’s ban on UNRWA, if implemented, would violate international law, the founding U.N. Charter and a U.N. convention adopted in 1946.
In a letter to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Guterres called for UNRWA operations to continue and said Israel cannot use the national law barring UNRWA as “justification for its failure to perform its obligations under international law.”
WHAT ARE ISRAEL’S OBLIGATIONS?
The U.N. views Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory, and international law requires an occupying power to agree to relief programs for people in need and to facilitate them “by all the means at its disposal.”
In his letter, Guterres also wrote that article two of the founding U.N. Charter requires that Israel “shall give the United Nations every assistance” in its work.
He cited as another legal issue the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations – adopted by the General Assembly in 1946 – which covers the diplomatic privileges and immunities granted to U.N. operations.
He signaled that there was a difference of interpretation or application of the convention between the U.N. and Israel and that such situations could be referred to the International Court of Justice.
WHAT HAS ISRAEL SAID?
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement in response to Guterres’ letter: “Israel will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza according to international law.”
However, Israel contends UNRWA was complicit in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on Israel, which sparked its Gaza offensive.
Danon said the agency “has been overrun by Hamas.” UNRWA “has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job,” he said.
The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and had been fired. Later, a Hamas commander in Lebanon – killed last month in an Israeli strike – was found to have had an UNRWA job.
WHAT ARE THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS?
In response to Israel’s UNRWA ban and other aid obstacles, Norway said on Tuesday that it will put forward a U.N. General Assembly resolution to ask the International Court of Justice, known as the World Court, for an opinion on Israel’s obligations.
The question before the top U.N. court would be: Does Israel violate international law as it prevents the U.N., international humanitarian organization and states from providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians under occupation?
The court’s opinion would be advisory and not binding under international law. But it would carry legal and political significance.
The Hague-based court has no enforcement powers, so advisory opinions and binding rulings have been ignored by some countries in the past.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters that Norway hoped to put the draft resolution to a vote in the General Assembly in the coming weeks, where it would likely be adopted.
“Clarifying what is legal and what is illegal still makes sense, even if it does not turn into political change overnight,” Eide said.
WHAT ABOUT U.S. LAW?
Under the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, Washington cannot give military aid to countries that directly or indirectly impede delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.
The U.S. told Israel in a letter on Oct. 13 that it must take steps within 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid.
It also warned Israel in the letter against adopting the UNRWA ban because of the humanitarian impact on Gaza and the Israel-occupied West Bank, although that was not listed as a requirement for avoiding U.S. action.
“There could be consequences under U.S. law and U.S. policy for the implementation of this legislation,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday.
The legislation has alarmed the United Nations and some of Israel’s Western allies who fear it will further worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants for a year. The ban does not refer to operations in the Palestinian territories or elsewhere.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence “we submitted to the U.N. highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the U.N. did nothing to address this reality”.
The legislation does not directly outlaw UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza, both considered by international law to be outside the state of Israel but under Israeli occupation.
But it will severely impact its ability to work in those areas and there has been deep alarm among aid groups and many of Israel’s partners.
The Israeli foreign ministry said activity by other international organizations would be expanded and “preparations will be made to end the connection with UNRWA and to boost alternatives to UNRWA”.
