10/10/2024–|Last updated: 10/10/202408:59 AM (Mecca time)
On Wednesday evening, members of the UN Security Council warned Israel against moving forward with passing legislation that would curb the activity of the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, while the United States of America criticized its ally Israel and said that it must urgently deal with the “catastrophic conditions” in the Strip. And stop “exacerbating the suffering” by limiting aid delivery.
Last Sunday, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) approved two draft laws aimed at “ending UNRWA’s activities and benefits in Israel,” in a move that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was quick to denounce.
All members of the Security Council who spoke unanimously called on Israel to respect the work of UNRWA and protect the employees of this agency.
For his part, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini warned the UN Security Council that “senior Israeli officials described the destruction of UNRWA as a war goal,” noting that 226 UNRWA employees were killed within 12 months.
He stressed that “if the two draft laws are passed, the consequences will be dire.” “In practice, the entire humanitarian response that relies on UNRWA’s infrastructure in Gaza may disintegrate,” he said.
Lazzarini also criticized Israeli orders for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza again and said that “hundreds of thousands are once again being pushed to move to the south, where living conditions are unbearable.” “Once again, the people of Gaza are teetering on the brink of man-made famine,” he added.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that he had sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that this legislation “may prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
In turn, Washington’s representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said – yesterday, Wednesday – that the United States is “following with deep concern the Israeli legislative proposal that may change the legal status of UNRWA.”
She added that these two pieces of legislation, if approved, would “impede the ability to communicate with Israeli officials and abolish the privileges and immunities granted to United Nations organizations and their employees around the world.”
The American delegate referred to the conditions in the Gaza Strip and said, “These catastrophic conditions were expected for months. However, they were not dealt with… This must change… and now.” She added in a strong statement, “We call on Israel to take urgent steps to do so.”
Greenfield also touched on Israel’s orders for civilians to evacuate northern Gaza, stressing that they should be able to return to residential areas to rebuild. She added, “There should be no change in the population nature of the Gaza Strip or its territory, which includes any measure that would reduce the area of Gaza.”
In addition to the United States, Israel was also subjected to severe criticism from Britain’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, the French Ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas de Rivière, and Algeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ammar Ben Jama, whose country currently holds a non-permanent seat in the Security Council.
Israeli defense
On the other hand, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, defended his country, claiming that “Israel does not impose any restrictions on humanitarian aid,” and said that Israel “actually agreed to 82% of all requests for coordination and implementation of humanitarian affairs,” accusing the Palestinian resistance movement. (Hamas) diverted aid from those who needed it in Gaza, he claimed.
He added, “Compare our efforts with the failures of UNRWA. UNRWA in Gaza allowed Hamas to infiltrate its ranks,” and the Israeli ambassador considered that “the organization cannot be reformed.”
It is noteworthy that Israel had accused some of the UN agency’s employees of participating in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023, although none of these accusations have been proven yet, while more than 300 humanitarian aid workers were martyred in the Gaza Strip. Most of them are UNRWA employees.