Israel's Ban on UNRWA Sparks Warnings of Humanitarian, Legal Fallout

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and visiting professor at Princeton University, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s move aligns with a broader strategy to make Gaza uninhabitable.

“I think what’s going on here, ultimately, is that Netanyahu is pursuing the strategy articulated by some of the far-right members of his government, to make conditions so horrible in Gaza that ultimately Israel ‘solves this Palestinian problem,’” Roth said.

“It solves the problem of apartheid. It solves the problem of Hamas by just getting rid of the Palestinians, forcing them to flee to Egypt. And I’m afraid that is a big part of what is going on right now,” he added.

Mohamad Bazzi, a professor at New York University, warned that Israel’s ban on UNRWA could embolden other nations to defy international law by targeting UN organizations.

“This is an unprecedented ban because we have a member of the United Nations,... that has decided to ban an organization that is part of the United Nations,” Bazzi said.

“If Israel is allowed to get away with this, if it is allowed to implement this ban and if the UN does not take steps to counter that, if the United States and the Biden administration continue to defend Israel at the Security Council... we will see other member states of the UN take up this kind of impunity,” he warned.

Bazzi argued that Israel had long sought to dismantle UNRWA and used the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza to intensify its pressure on the agency.

UNRWA’s former General Counsel Lex Takkenberg emphasized that a robust response from the UN’s leadership is now essential.

“We should also consider that these legislative attacks come on top of numerous other attacks on the UN as a whole,” Takkenberg said.

He pointed out that Israel had previously criticized the UN secretary general and sought to dissolve the General Assembly.

“It’s really reaching a point that the principal organs of the United Nations – the Security Council and the General Assembly – have really no choice but to take strong action,” he said.

Takkenberg also noted that Israel is legally obligated to provide services in Gaza and the West Bank if UNRWA is prevented from doing so.

“This was one of the key reasons why, in 1967, Israel requested UNRWA to continue its operations in Gaza and the West Bank, because Israel knew that otherwise, it would have to make provisions for this,” he said.

The Knesset legislation, set to take effect in 90 days, could paralyze the agency’s work in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem al-Quds, further straining aid efforts amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.

The first law prohibits UNRWA from conducting any activities or providing services within Israeli-occupied territories, passing with a vote of 92-10.

A second bill, which designates UNRWA as a “terror” group and bans any contact between Israeli officials and the agency, passed 87-9 after heated debate in parliament.

UNRWA has been the primary organization delivering aid to Gaza, where conflict with Israel has claimed the lives of hundreds of its staff, making it the deadliest conflict for UN workers in recent history.