If UNRWA forced to stop operations, ceasefire in Gaza to be at risk

Israel's arbitrary shutdown of UN humanitarian activities in Palestinian territory may jeopardise the ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA), which is at the head of the ban.

UNRWA has been providing crucial help and support to Palestinian refugees for over seven decades. UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini recognises the institution as "a lifeline" for the almost six million Palestinian refugees it serves in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israel accused UNRWA of providing support for Hamas, which the agency firmly denied. It also accused UNRWA employees of being involved in the October 7 attack.

Israel has not presented evidence to support its claims and accusations. It then approved legislation breaking relations with the agency, which went into effect on Thursday, a move that is likely to impede its crucial services after 15 months of fighting in Gaza.

The agency is banned from working on Israeli soil, and interaction with Israeli officials is likewise prohibited, Al Jazeera reported.

At a press briefing in Geneva, Juliette Touma, director of communications of UNRWA said, “If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, then the fate of this very fragile ceasefire is going to be at risk and is going to be in jeopardy.”

This warning was issued by UNRWA as the United Kingdom, France and Germany expressed their “grave concern” over Israel’s ban.

The joint statement from the three nations, published by the British government, said, “We urge the government of Israel to work with international partners, including the UN, to ensure continuity of operations.”

UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said in a statement that the organisation is currently functioning in a "nightmare scenario".

According to Fowler, UNRWA still employs 5,000 people in Gaza as the "backbone of the international aid operation," and the situation may jeopardise their work.

“Our biggest fear is that there is no plan B,” he said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, previously claimed that, despite the prohibition, "UNRWA clinics across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are open."

According to Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo, who reported from UN headquarters in New York, while UNRWA's work continues, Israel has not extended visas for at least a dozen of the agency's employees. After the law went into effect, Norway declared that it would donate $24 million to the agency.

“Gaza is in ruins, and UNRWA’s help is more necessary than ever,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said.

Turkiye condemned the Israeli move as “a blatant violation of international law” and said it “marks a new phase in Israel’s policies of occupation and annexation aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from their own land”.

The Supreme Court of Israel denied a petition filed by the Palestinian human rights organisation Adalah on Wednesday, stating that the law only prohibited UNRWA's activities on "the sovereign territory of the State of Israel," not in Gaza or the West Bank, which it has occupied.

However, UNRWA's field headquarters for its West Bank operations are located in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, which is covered in the ban. Adalah responded by stating that the law would take effect “disregarding the catastrophic humanitarian consequences”.