Israel officially ends agreement with UN Palestinian relief agency operating in Gaza
UNRWA chief says restricting humanitarian aid, dismantling relief agency add 'additional layer of suffering'
Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main UN relief organization for Palestinian refugees since 1967, the country's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Last month, the Israeli parliament passed legislation banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from co-operating with the organization, which provides aid and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
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.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel has scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time. This represented only six per cent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.
"This cannot meet the needs of two million people, many of whom are starving, sick and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said on X.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone. Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.
"Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering," Lazzarini said.
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.
Following an investigation by the UN oversight office, the UN said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Oct. 7 attack, 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.
Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence "we submitted to the UN highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the UN did nothing to address this reality."
Widespread hunger in Gaza
Palestinians say the price of simple goods is largely out of reach for most, with many people having no income. That's as scant aid is reaching Gaza amid Israeli restrictions and frequent fighting.
Abu Al-Walid, owner of the Happiness Kitchen, which runs on donations and external funding from international organizations, said it cooks and distributes food to about 20,000 people in the area of al-Mawasi, west of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
"We have a lot of difficulty sourcing food supplies," he told CBC News on Sunday, as the distribution centre was trying to serve hundreds of Palestinians waiting with pots and buckets in hand to get food for their families.
"We're surviving off the distribution," said Samar Eid, a mother of three. "We leave in the morning to find some food. We are lacking in everything, our kids are hungry … our mental health is bad because we lack food."
Abeer Daif Allah was forcibly displaced with her five children from northern Gaza roughly six months ago and went to Rafah before arriving in Khan Younis.
"We can't get any food, so we come to the distribution centre," she said.
'Race against time' to avoid implementing law: UNRWA
The legislation, which does not take effect for another three months, has prompted international concern, with the UN Security Council warning against attempts to dismantle UNRWA.
Juliette Touma, UNRWA's director of communications, said the Israeli law had so far had no impact on UNRWA assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. She said the onus was on UN member states to find a way to get Israel not to implement the law, calling it "a race against time."
The legislation does not directly outlaw UNRWA's operations in the West Bank and Gaza, but 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."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered his ministry to notify the United Nations of the cancellation of the agreement, the Foreign Ministry said.
Katz said the UN "was presented with countless pieces of evidence that Hamas operatives are employed by UNRWA and about the use of UNRWA facilities for terrorist purposes yet nothing was done about this."
Asked for comment, Touma said that in addition to the UN oversight office's investigation, UNRWA received one formal accusation directly from Israeli authorities, alleging 100 of its staff were members of Palestinian armed groups.
UNRWA sought information and co-operation from Israel about the allegations and had not received a response, she said.
The Israeli military had also made accusations in the media alleging the use of UNRWA facilities by armed groups.
UNRWA had repeatedly condemned the alleged use of its facilities by groups including Hamas and other parties to the conflict and called for accountability, she said.
Northern Gaza hospital under bombardment
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents said they feared new air and ground attacks and forced evacuations were aimed at emptying areas in the enclave's north to create buffer zones against Hamas militants.
In the latest bloodshed, medics said seven people were killed in an attack on two houses in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Monday. Five more were killed in separate strikes in central and southern parts of the enclave, medics told Reuters.
Several people were wounded in both attacks, they said, adding that Israeli forces had sent tanks into the northeast of Nuseirat camp earlier on Monday.
Israel deployed tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya on Oct. 5, 2024, saying it intended to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and many staff and patients had been injured.
"The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital," it said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on that situation.
Palestinians said the new aerial and ground offensives and forced evacuations were "ethnic cleansing" aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp of their population to create buffer zones. Israel denies this.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since Oct. 5 at 1,800. It said 4,000 others were wounded.
There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory's health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating the figures of the dead.
Israel said its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month. It did not provide any evidence.
The war erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's retaliatory offensives have killed more than 43,300 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble.
With files from CBC News, Mohamed El Saife