What is Unrwa and why has Israel banned it?

Israel's parliament voted connected Monday evening to prohibition the UN's Palestinian exile bureau (Unrwa) from operating wrong Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.

Contact betwixt Unrwa employees and Israeli officials volition beryllium banned, crippling its quality to run successful Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Almost each of Gaza's colonisation of much than 2 cardinal radical are babelike connected assistance and services from the agency.

The determination has faced wide condemnation, with Unrwa informing the caller instrumentality could spot assistance proviso chains "fall apart" successful the coming weeks.

Israel has defended the move, repeating its allegation that a fig of the agency's unit were progressive successful Hamas's 7 October attacks past year, which killed 1,200 people.

However, Israel's absorption to Unrwa besides goes backmost decades.

Founded successful 1949, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, oregon Unrwa, works successful Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, initially caring for the 700,000 Palestinians who were forced from oregon fled their homes aft the instauration of the authorities of Israel.

Over the decades, Unrwa has grown to go the biggest UN bureau operating successful Gaza. It employs immoderate 13,000 radical determination and is cardinal to humanitarian efforts.

It is funded chiefly by voluntary donations by UN subordinate states, with the UN itself providing immoderate nonstop funds.

It distributes assistance and runs shelters and cardinal infrastructure - specified arsenic aesculapian facilities, teacher grooming centres and astir 300 superior schools.

Since the warfare successful Gaza began, the bureau says it has distributed nutrient parcels to astir 1.9 cardinal people. It has besides offered astir six cardinal aesculapian consultations crossed the enclave implicit the people of the conflict.

More than 200 Unrwa unit person been killed successful Israeli attacks since October 2023 successful the people of those duties, according to the agency.

Unwra has agelong been criticised by Israel, with galore determination objecting to its precise existence.

The destiny of refugees has been a halfway contented successful the Arab-Israeli conflict, with Palestinians harbouring a imagination of returning to homes successful historical Palestine, parts of which are present successful Israel.

Israel rejects their assertion and criticises the set-up of Unrwa for allowing exile presumption to beryllium inherited by successive generations.

It says this entrenches Palestinians arsenic refugees, and encourages their hopes of a close of return.

The Israeli authorities has besides agelong denounced the agency's teaching and textbooks for, successful its view, perpetuating anti-Israel views.

In 2022, an Israeli watchdog said Unrwa acquisition worldly taught students that Israel was attempting to "erase Palestinian identity”.

The European Commission identified what it called "anti-Semitic material" successful the schoolbooks, "including adjacent incitement to violence", and the European Parliament has called repeatedly for EU backing to the Palestinian Authority to beryllium conditional connected removing specified content.

Unrwa has antecedently said reports astir its acquisition worldly were "inaccurate and misleading" and that galore of the books successful question were not utilized successful its schools.

After the 7 October Hamas attacks connected Israel, allegations that immoderate Unrwa unit were progressive further amplified calls successful Israel for the bureau to beryllium banned.

The subject claimed that successful total, much than 450 Unrwa unit were members of "terrorist organisations". In the aftermath of the allegations, immoderate 16 Western countries temporarily suspended backing for the assistance agency.

The UN investigated Israel’s assertion and fired 9 people, but it said Israel had not provided grounds for much allegations and Unrwa denied immoderate wider engagement with Hamas.

Speaking connected Monday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated the allegations, penning connected X that "Unrwa workers progressive successful violent activities against Israel indispensable beryllium held accountable."

Under the caller instrumentality - which was approved by 92 MPs and opposed by conscionable 10 - interaction betwixt Unrwa employees and Israeli officials volition beryllium banned.

While astir of Unrwa's projects instrumentality spot successful Gaza and the occupied West Bank, it relies connected agreements with Israel to operate. This includes moving assistance done checkpoints betwixt Israel and Gaza.

Along with the Palestinian Red Crescent, Unrwa handles astir each assistance organisation successful Gaza done 11 centres crossed the enclave. It besides provides services to 19 exile camps successful the West Bank.

Unrwa manager William Deere told the BBC that connected a applicable level, the prohibition connected interacting with Israeli officials meant it would go astir intolerable for the agency's unit to run successful the country.

"We won't beryllium capable to determination successful Gaza without being taxable to imaginable attack, planetary unit won't beryllium capable to get visas immoderate longer," helium said.

The enforcement manager of the UN's World Food Programme said without Unrwa's beingness successful Gaza, assistance agencies volition beryllium incapable to administer indispensable nutrient and medicine.

"They bash each the enactment connected the crushed there," Cindy McCain told the BBC. "We don't person the contacts. We don't person the quality to get to cognize the contacts, due to the fact that things are truthful intensely trouble there."