The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has excluded six Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon from emergency cash assistance, as Israeli attacks and Western donor cuts leave families choosing between food and medicine.
As Israeli forces move to take over remaining UNRWA facilities in Jerusalem, residents of Qalandia and Shufaat refugee camps fear the assault on the UN agency is linked to the ongoing Israeli military crackdown on the camps.
A bill in Congress aims to dismantle UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. It is part of a coordinated campaign to eliminate the possibility of justice for Palestinian refugees. Palestinians must resist before it’s too late.
Officials say Israel’s attacks on humanitarian aid workers aim to block essential aid from reaching Palestinians, as Israel continues to impose a blockade on Gaza seven months into the so-called “ceasefire.”
As limited aid trickles into Gaza, Israel’s strategy of ‘engineering chaos’ by shooting at aid-seekers and permitting looters to steal aid ensures that food doesn’t get to starving Palestinians.
The Israeli government’s closure of six UNRWA schools in Jerusalem has left over 800 Palestinian students without school, and has thrown an entire community into limbo. Residents say it’s all part of a larger attack on Palestinian refugees.
Gaza cannot survive without UNRWA and the life-saving services it provides. That is why Israel’s attack on the UN agency is an attack on Palestinian existence.
Israel’s ban on UNRWA would leave hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees without education, jobs, or essential services. But the real reason it is going after the UN agency lies in Israel’s political and territorial ambitions.
The U.S. and 16 other countries urged Hamas and Israel to “make concessions” to secure a ceasefire deal. Meanwhile, Israel killed 40 people in a bombing of an UNRWA school in the central Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu has vowed to invade Rafah despite the international red line. Meanwhile, the U.S. has sanctioned two illegal settler outposts in the West Bank for the first time.