UNRWA chief warns new Israeli law threatens education for 660,000 Gaza students and risks extremism and marginalisation.
An entire generation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would “be denied the right to education” if the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) collapses in the enclave under new Israeli legislation, the head of the agency has warned.
The Israeli parliament last week adopted two controversial bills banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory, closing its offices in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
UNRWA’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said that implementation of the legislation, which is due to take effect in late January, “will have catastrophic consequences”.
“Glaringly absent from discussions about Gaza without UNRWA, is education,” Lazzarini told a UN General Assembly committee on Wednesday.
“In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 660,000 girls and boys across Gaza. In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education,” he said, warning that this would sow “the seeds for marginalisation and extremism”.
He again pushed UN member states to act to prevent the implementation of the Israeli legislation.
The UN agency provides education, healthcare and other basic services to Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and their descendants, who now number nearly six million people. Refugee families make up the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
Aid groups have warned that Israel’s ban on UNRWA could create further obstacles to addressing a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel has said other UN agencies and aid groups can fill the gap, but those organisations have insisted UNRWA is essential.
Israel’s ally the United States has described the role of UNRWA in Gaza as “indispensable.” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday that it was of urgent importance that Israel pause implementation of the law.
The legislation is due to take effect just days after US President-elect Donald Trump takes office for a second four-year term. Some observers expect Trump to pursue a strongly pro-Israel approach to the Middle East region, going even beyond the solid support given by President Joe Biden.
The UN Security Council has backed UNRWA and “strongly warned against any attempts to dismantle or diminish” it.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has told Israel that replacing UNRWA in Gaza and the West Bank would be Israel’s responsibility as the occupying power. The UN views Gaza and the West Bank as Israeli-occupied territory.
“We left Gaza completely in 2005. We disengaged, we gave the keys to the Palestinian Authority,” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters after Lazzarini’s briefing.
“Now, we are in a war after we were attacked and we act according to international law; that’s why we provide humanitarian support and we cooperate with many UN agencies,” he said. “We are willing to cooperate, but not with terrorists.”
In January, Israel accused dozens of UNRWA staff of having taken part in the Hamas-led October 7 attack where more than 1,100 people were killed and about 250 taken captive by Palestinian armed groups.
Israel responded to the attack by launching its continuing assault on Gaza, killing at least 43,712 people and wounding another 103,258, according to Palestinian authorities.
The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s allegations which resulted in the termination of contracts of nine staff members against which “the evidence – if authenticated and corroborated – could indicate that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved” in the attack.
In July, Israel alleged that another 100 UNRWA employees were members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. The agency asked Israel to provide more information to take action. UNRWA last week told Al Jazeera it had not yet received a response.