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Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem are set to lose access to essential education, healthcare, and other services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This comes as an Israeli ban on the organization takes effect on Thursday. Israel’s government has ordered UNRWA to vacate its East Jerusalem compound and cease operations under a law passed last year that outlaws the agency and prohibits Israeli authorities from having contact with it.
At UNRWA’s offices in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, workers were seen packing boxes and loading portable buildings onto trucks as they prepared to shut down operations. Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for UNRWA, expressed his dismay at the decision, stating, “It’s an unacceptable decision.” He added, “The people that we serve… we are not able to tell them what is going to happen to our services as of the end of this week.”
Israel has not announced any provisions for replacing UNRWA’s activities, and the prime minister’s office has not responded to requests for comment. UNRWA has long operated schools and clinics in East Jerusalem, serving tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who have no nationality. The closure of these services will leave many vulnerable individuals without access to vital resources.
Sara Saeed, a refugee who relies on the UNRWA medical center in Jerusalem’s Old City, expressed her sadness at the news. “We have everything here for us. When I heard that it will close, I was very sad because here is a place for people in need and for people who don’t have money to pay for medication,” she said. The medical center serves 30,000 refugees, including patients with diabetes and high blood pressure, pregnant women, and children who receive vaccinations.
UNRWA was established around 75 years ago to serve approximately 750,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war, coinciding with the creation of the state of Israel. Its headquarters are located near Jerusalem’s Old City, which is home to sites holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The agency has long been a contentious issue for Israeli governments that view it as fundamentally hostile to Israel.
Israel claims that UNRWA’s continued existence has perpetuated the refugee status of generations of Palestinians, now numbering in the millions, and has frozen the conflict in place. The Israeli government has regularly accused the agency of anti-Israel bias and has alleged that some of its staff members are affiliated with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for a deadly cross-border raid on Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel has called for UNRWA’s responsibilities to be taken over by other UN bodies, such as the UN’s main refugee agency.
The UN has rejected accusations of bias and maintained that UNRWA’s expertise is irreplaceable, particularly in Gaza. An investigation by the UN found that nine UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the Hamas attack. The agency subsequently fired these individuals but stated that Israel had not provided evidence of more widespread involvement by its staff. UNRWA employs around 30,000 people in the region, including approximately 13,000 in the Gaza Strip.
More than 200 UNRWA staff members have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began. The October 7, 2023, attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, with another 250 taken hostage into Gaza. In response, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has led to the deaths of over 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
As UNRWA prepares to cease operations in East Jerusalem, the future remains uncertain for the thousands of Palestinian refugees who rely on the agency’s services. The international community will need to address the humanitarian consequences of this decision and work towards ensuring that vulnerable populations continue to receive the support they desperately need.
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