UNITED NATIONS: Israel will cease all contact with the UN’s Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and any other body acting on its behalf, its UN envoy said on Tuesday, after repeatedly accusing the organisation of undermining its security.

UNRWA’s offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, but Israeli officials have long clashed with the agency. UNRWA claims to have brought in 60 per cent of the food to have reached Gaza since the start of the conflict that followed the Oct 7, 2023 raid on Israel.

“The legislation forbids UNRWA from operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, and forbids any contact between Israeli officials and UNWRA,” said the envoy, Danny Danon.

He was speaking ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Israel’s passage of legislation ending the organisation’s legal footing in Israel within 48 hours.

“Israel will terminate all collaboration, communication and contact with UNRWA or anyone acting on its behalf,” he said. Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly Oct 7, 2023 assault, and insists that other organisations can pick up the slack to provide essential services, aid and reconstruction — something the UN disputes.

A series of probes, including one led by France’s former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA — but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.

The agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said UNRWA’s “capacity to directly provide primary healthcare for millions of Palestinians, and to resume education for hundreds of thousands of children, far exceeds that of any other entity.” He called Israel’s actions against UNRWA a “relentless assault” that is “harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2025