Foreign Minister Israel Katz officially announced on Monday morning the cancellation of the 1967 agreement between Israel and UNRWA, the UN agency for "Palestinian refugees". This agreement formed the legal basis for relations between the State of Israel and UNRWA.
The announcement comes after the Knesset last week approved the law halting UNRWA's activities in Israel.
Minister Katz said, "UNRWA - the organization whose employees participated in the October 7 massacre and many of whose employees are Hamas operatives - is part of the problem in the Gaza Strip and not part of the solution."
He added, "The UN was presented with innumerable evidence about Hamas operatives working at UNRWA and about the use of UNRWA facilities for terrorist purposes, and nothing was done about it. Moreover, UNRWA chose not to apply even the recommendations of the UN itself, written in the Colonna report."
The Foreign Minister also stated, "Don't believe those who tell you that there is no substitute for UNRWA. Already now the vast majority of humanitarian aid is delivered through other organizations, and only 13 percent of it is delivered through UNRWA. The State of Israel is bound by international law and will continue to allow the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip Gaza in a way that will not harm the security of the citizens of Israel.”
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said in response to the letter, "Following the legislation on UNRWA, we officially informed the President of the General Assembly of the termination of cooperation with the organization. Despite the overwhelming evidence we submitted to the UN highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the UN did nothing to address this reality.”
“As I have emphasized several times, UNRWA is controlled by Hamas in Gaza. The State of Israel will continue to cooperate with humanitarian organizations but not with organizations that promote terrorism against the State of Israel,” added Danon.
The bills banning UNRWA’s activities in Israel were approved in the Knesset last Monday with a historic majority of 92 out of 120 MKs. Only 10 MKs voted against the bills, with the opposition parties National Unity, Yisrael Beytenu, and Yesh Atid supporting it. The Democrats party abstained.
The bills received initial Knesset approval in July.
Responding to the approval of the legislation, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that the vote in the Knesset “is unprecedented and sets a dangerous precedent. It opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law.”
“This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role towards providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine Refugees,” he charged.
UNRWA, which has long been criticized for cooperating with Hamas, has come under increased scrutiny as its workers have been found to have been directly involved in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel revealed in January of this year that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. It then presented a dossier showing that the UNRWA workers who participated in the Hamas massacre kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively took part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.