With the United Nations company for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) ordered to cease operations in Israel and the occupied territory on Thursday, many Palestinians dread the implications on their lives and future.
All through Israel’s 15-month battle on Gaza, which has uprooted most of its inhabitants and decreased a lot of the enclave to rubble, UNRWA was a vital lifeline of assist for the two.3 million stranded Palestinians, whilst humanitarian provides dwindled.
In addition to UNRWA’s vital humanitarian position, refugees – who account for 71 p.c of Gaza’s inhabitants – concern they are going to be left with out a hyperlink to their household’s authentic properties or a proper to ever return to the land that was as soon as historic Palestine and is now Israel.
Since its creation in 1949 to serve and deal with the a whole bunch of 1000’s of Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israel’s creation a yr earlier, UNRWA has symbolised the hope of refugees to return dwelling.
Sitting in entrance of the remnants of his destroyed dwelling in Khan Younis, 74-year-old Abu Nael Hamouda describes UNRWA as “a lifeline throughout generations” – one which has supplied schooling, healthcare and meals in occasions of peace and battle alike.
“UNRWA is the lung that Palestinian refugees breathe from,” says Hamouda, who himself initially hails from what was as soon as the Palestinian city of Majdal. He was compelled to evacuate from Majdal as a baby, because it grew to become a part of Ashkelon in Israel.
“With out it, we’d suffocate. My kids and grandchildren went to UNRWA’s colleges, we have been handled in UNRWA hospitals, and it helped us put roofs over our heads.”
In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset handed two legal guidelines: one designating UNRWA as a so-called “terrorist” organisation and the opposite banning it from working in Gaza and the occupied West Financial institution. Whereas Israel argues that UNRWA helps “terrorism” by offering assist to Hamas, the ruling has drawn criticism from a lot of the worldwide neighborhood, together with a few of Israel’s closest allies.
Whereas the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire has made assist shipments into Gaza of up to 600 trucks per day doable, the absence of UNRWA, the most important assist organisation working within the Strip, poses a major danger for its inhabitants.
For households like Hamouda’s, who’ve relied on the company for generations, the absence of UNRWA is not only a logistical problem; it represents “a demise sentence for tens of millions of Palestinian refugees, in Gaza and past”, he says.
Filling the hole
Because the deadline for UNRWA’s closure approaches, refugees are left to marvel what’s going to occur subsequent, particularly after United States President Donald Trump known as for Palestinians in Gaza to maneuver to Egypt and Jordan, a proposal rejected by Palestinian leaders, the UN, and Egypt and Jordan, and threatens so as to add extra refugees to the 5.9 million who’re dispersed in Palestine and world wide.
Within the southern Gaza refugee camp of Khan Younis, Abu Ahmed Hamad, a father of 10 who was compelled to depart his dwelling in Beit Hanoon in Gaza’s north to flee the violence, displays on his household’s reliance on the company throughout occasions of peace and battle. He and his spouse maintain UNRWA ID playing cards too.
“UNRWA is a lifesaver,” Hamad says. “It has been a protected haven for us – offering meals, shelter and healthcare, and even leisure actions for our youngsters through the battle.”
Regardless of the efforts of different humanitarian organisations, Hamad is sceptical about whether or not they can change UNRWA’s complete providers. “The battle proved that UNRWA is probably the most able to dealing with the disaster. Different teams have been working, however they barely lined a fraction of the wants of the Palestinian folks,” he says, citing the sheer variety of UNRWA employees and experience in quite a few wars imposed on Palestinians.
“Palestinians are those who know most the significance of UNRWA and why it’s being focused, particularly by Israel and the US. Changing it by another organisation is futile for Palestinians, and a grave victory for the occupation,” he stresses. “It’s an erasure of the Palestinian refugee trigger altogether.”
An emblem of Palestinian identification
The company’s institution in 1949 was instantly linked to United Nations Decision 194, which affirms the fitting of Palestinian refugees to return to their properties and obtain compensation for his or her losses.
Many Palestinians view the company as a key pillar of their combat for justice and recognition, and so they regard its closure not solely as a lack of very important providers but additionally as an assault on this basic proper.
“That is greater than assist,” says Ibrahim Abdel Qader, a refugee from the Khan Younis camp. “What they’re making an attempt to do is erase the refugee concern and the fitting of return.”
Sami Mshasha, an knowledgeable on Palestinian refugee points and a former spokesman for UNRWA, asserts that the company has been hit laborious by Israel.
“UNRWA is pivotal in some ways,” Mshasha says. “Israel’s actions towards UNRWA bears huge political devastation for refugees in Gaza, the West Financial institution, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, to not point out the symbolic significance in shutting down its 70-year-old headquarters in [occupied East] Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah.”
Mshasha notes that greater than 200 UNRWA amenities in Gaza have been destroyed, and a whole bunch of employees members have been killed through the battle. That is along with the large monetary cuts impacting the company’s skill to fulfil its duties. The company launched a feeble emergency attraction for $464m, “however this quantity falls far in need of the $1.7bn it wants yearly to maintain its operations within the 5 most important areas it operates in”, he notes.
The US, a key donor to UNRWA, has additionally been criticised for its assist of Israel’s actions. In January 2024, the Biden administration reduce funding to the company following Israel’s allegations that 12 of its 13,000 employees members have been concerned within the October 7 assault on Israel carried out by Hamas, exacerbating the monetary pressure.
Poor Palestinian response
Mshasha additionally criticises UNRWA’s management for its dealing with of the ban. “There’s no clear plan from the company’s high administration to navigate the disaster, regardless of 13,000 employees in Gaza able to serve”, the knowledgeable provides.
He questions why UNRWA Commissioner-Basic Philippe Lazzarini has but to go to Gaza. “He is without doubt one of the UN’s most senior officers within the Center East. He must be on the bottom, guaranteeing that UNRWA begins to recuperate as a substitute of leaving Gaza to navigate this disaster alone,” Mshasha says.
Whereas Israel continues its efforts to undermine UNRWA, the company should reply with decisive motion. “Sure, the commissioner-general faces Israeli strain, however the scale of Gaza’s disaster calls for a stronger response and a transparent restoration plan. In any other case, the scenario will solely worsen,” Mshasha provides.
Hamouda, the 74-year-old who has lived by way of a number of wars and displacement, fears for the way forward for his household because the ban comes into impact. He doesn’t need them to face these hardships with out the company that has sustained them for generations.
“If UNRWA goes, we may have nothing left,” he says. “We are able to’t survive with out it. It’s the solely factor that has saved us alive.”
This piece was revealed in collaboration with Egab.
