With Israeli Laws Set to Take Effect in 48 Hours, UN Palestine Refugee Agency Chief Warns Security Council of Risks to Gaza Ceasefire, Recovery Efforts
While Many Speakers Support Agency as Lifeline, Israel’s Delegate Says It Failed
The implementation of Israel’s legislation on 30 January — curtailing the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — will undermine the ceasefire and sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition, a senior UN official told the Security Council today.
Expressing hope that the long-awaited ceasefire — which began nine days ago — “will hold and then the tremendous suffering in Gaza will subside”, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, welcomed the return of Israeli hostages and imprisoned Palestinians to their families. He also recognized the marked improvement in the flow of humanitarian aid and operating conditions. As the largest UN presence in Gaza — with 13,000 personnel and 300 premises — the Agency is critical in supporting a shattered population under a ceasefire, he emphasized.
Yet, in two days, “our operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory will be crippled as legislation passed by Israel takes effect”, he warned, adding that the fate of millions of Palestinians is at stake. “In the wake of the ceasefire, we must contend with the devastation of the last 15 months and the enormity of the challenges ahead,” he said, pointing to a peer-reviewed study of death by traumatic injury in Gaza, which reveals that the mortality figure provided by the Ministry of Health is “a minimum estimate”. In fact, 46,000 deaths is likely an undercount by over 40 per cent, with the majority of those killed being women, children and the elderly. The study also confirms that those who escaped death by bombardment, starvation and disease have emerged shell-shocked.
UNRWA’s Community Acceptance Not Quantifiable But Critical
Tens of thousands of people are now returning to the decimated north “to search for the living and to bury the dead”, he said, noting UNRWA’s unique mandate to provide public-like services to an entire population. He rejected Israel’s claim that the Agency plays “a negligible role” in providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza and that its services can be transferred to other entities. UNRWA constitutes half the emergency response, having delivered two thirds of all food assistance, provided shelter to over a million displaced persons and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio since October 2023. Less quantifiable, but critical for the humanitarian response and the ceasefire, is community acceptance: “Palestinians know and trust UNRWA,” he stressed.
Furthermore, Israel’s Government is investing significant resources to portray the Agency as a terrorist organization and its staff as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. Billboards and ads accusing UNRWA of terrorism recently appeared in major cities worldwide. The political attacks on the Agency are motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of their refugee status and erase their history and identity. Underscoring the need to allow the Agency to progressively conclude its mandate within the framework of a political process, he stated: “We are determined to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so.”
Clearing Rubble Could Take 21 Years, Cost $1.2 Billion
Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, recalled his visit to Gaza City in December 2024 and expressed shock at the destruction: clearing over 50 million tons of rubble in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment “could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion”. For two decades, children will have nowhere to play in the rubble and debris caused by this war, having to fear unexploded bombs. “The principles of proportionality, distinction and military necessity have been thoroughly violated,” he stated.
While his organization managed to have 18 trucks of humanitarian cargo enter Gaza last week, looting and attacks on aid convoys remain a major concern. He recalled that, on 12 September 2024, the Israeli National Security Council admitted to the Knesset that Israel was no longer issuing visas to employees of international non-governmental organizations — apparently part of a broader effort to undermine humanitarian work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. However, as the occupying Power, Israel is legally obliged to facilitate humanitarian operations — in Gaza and in the West Bank alike.
Addressing the urgent humanitarian need, he called for full unrestricted access to northern Gaza, including the immediate opening of the Netzarim Corridor to facilitate the movement of civilians, humanitarian personnel and life-saving supplies. He further voiced alarm over intensified Israeli military operations and settler attacks across the occupied West Bank, urging the Council to “put all of our energies into achieving a peaceful resolution to the question of Palestine”.
In the ensuing discussion, speakers highlighted UNRWA’s essential role under the ceasefire as efforts continue to address the immense needs of the Palestinian people.
Halting UNRWA Operations ‘Death Sentence’ for Palestinians
“For generations of Palestinians, UNRWA is not just an Agency, it is life itself,” said Algeria’s delegate, Council President for the month, speaking in his national capacity. “Halting UNRWA’s operations would be a death sentence for Palestinians,” particularly for the most vulnerable among them — the refugees, he said, stressing that UNRWA must continue its mandate until the establishment of the Palestinian State.
“There is no alternative to the Agency — not in spirit and not in practice,” stated Slovenia’s delegate, rejecting attempts to dismantle it. Somalia’s representative concurred that measures to restrict Agency operations “cannot be seen as anything other than a deliberate attempt to exacerbate the suffering of an already vulnerable population”.
Without UNRWA, said Denmark’s delegate, civilians in Gaza risk losing “a vital safety net”, and Palestine’s refugees in the West Bank risk losing their access to essential services. Without UNRWA, echoed Sierra Leone’s representative, “the humanitarian response would risk collapse”.
Calling for a comprehensive reconstruction plan for Gaza, Pakistan’s delegate added: “We must resist steps designed to extinguish the Palestinian right to self-determination and statehood; we should instead take steps to make the two-State solution inevitable”.
Nevertheless, stressed China’s representative, “before the two-State solution becomes a reality, UNRWA is indispensable”, citing its absence from Gaza’s post-conflict reconstruction formula as “unthinkable”. While Panama’s delegate called for the Agency’s sustained financing, the representative of France declared that Paris has allocated $20 million to UNRWA.
While stressing that the implementation of Knesset legislation on UNRWA risks threatening the fragile gains made through the ceasefire deal, the United Kingdom’s delegate called on the Agency to continue to deliver their commitment to neutrality and fully investigate any allegations against their employees.
UNRWA ‘Not the Only Option’ for Providing Aid
The United States’ supported Israel’s sovereign decision to close UNRWA’s offices in Jerusalem on 30 January, as the Agency “is not and never has been the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza” — with its work “tainted” due to terrorist ties to Hamas. Urging the international community to scale up humanitarian aid, she called for Gaza to be fully demilitarized, with Hamas having no role in its governance. The ceasefire provides the countries of the Middle East with “a historic opportunity to reshape their region” where Israel is fully integrated with its neighbours under the banner of the Abraham Accords.
Meanwhile, the Russian Federation’s representative underscored that Israel would not dare to violate international law without unconditional financial and military support from Washington, D.C. “It is not an exaggeration to say that the fault for what is happening with the Agency falls on the United States’ shoulders.” Voicing support for UNRWA, he said the Russian Peace Foundation nominated the Agency for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
The representative of Egypt, speaking for the Arab Group, pointed out that Israel’s allegations cannot serve as grounds for adopting a unilateral decision preventing a UN agency from conducting its operations. Echoing that, Jordan’s delegate stated that allowing any State to undermine the immunities of UN agencies constitutes a dangerous precedent.
Relatedly, Greece’s delegate called on Israel to reconsider the implementation of the legislation as it will obstruct UNRWA’s capacity to operate within its mandate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. His counterpart from the Republic of Korea urged Israel to guarantee the conditions for UN staff to continue their work, including issuing proper visas for international staff.
For his part, Israel’s delegate affirmed that the legislation concerning UNRWA activities in his country will come into force in 48 hours when it must cease operations in Israel and evacuate all premises in Jerusalem. This reflects “years of efforts to address the grave accusations” against UNRWA, he stated — including failing its mandate, placing political agendas and cover-ups over humanitarian principles and refusing to address widespread Hamas infiltration. He reiterated Israel’s readiness to work with agencies with a track record of efficiency and accountability, while UNRWA’s contribution is easily replaceable by organizations already operational in Gaza.
“Israel has destroyed everything in Gaza […] except the sacred bond between a people and their land,” stated the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine. Israel’s logic is simple: to get rid of the refugees, one must destroy the Agency serving them. “If there is no education, health or assistance, they will surrender, leave, and abandon the land and their dream of liberation and return,” he said, adding that such conduct violates international law, including the orders issued by the International Court of Justice. Palestinians returning to the north know they will find ruins — “yet, still, they went back,” he said, noting that it is a testimony of their resilience.
Picking up that thread, Guyana’s delegate echoed the words of poet Pablo Neruda: “You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot prevent spring from coming.” Even amidst the 50 million tons of rubble, it is this “spring” — this hope for a new day in an independent State of their own and the drums of war silenced — that lies in the heart of every Palestinian, she said.