Israel withdraws recognition of UNRWA
Israel withdrew its recognition of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon tweeted on Monday morning.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon
Danon tweeted a copy of a letter notifying Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The development follows up on the Knesset passing legislation barring Israeli officials from cooperating with the embattled UN agency.
“Following the legislation on UNRWA, the State of Israel officially notified the President of the General Assembly of the termination of cooperation with the agency,” Danon tweeted.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence we submitted to the UN that substantiate Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA, the UN did nothing to rectify the situation. The State of Israel will continue to cooperate with humanitarian organizations but not with organizations that promote terrorism against us.”
UNRWA has been under fire for months, with Israeli officials demanding the agency be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of the agency’s staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
Palestinian refugees are the only refugee population with its own dedicated UN agency. The rest of the world’s refugees fall under the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
More than 100 survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attacks filed a $1 billion lawsuit against UNRWA in June, accusing the agency of “aiding and abetting” the terror group. According to the suit, the lead plaintiff, 84-year-old Ditza Heiman of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was held captive for seven weeks in the home of a Palestinian man who said he was a UNRWA teacher at a boy’s school.
Israel’s largest bank froze UNRWA’s account in February over suspicious financial transfers that the agency failed to adequately explain. That same month, Israeli forces discovered a Hamas complex located directly under the UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters and connected directly to the agency’s electricity system. The facility included numerous computer servers belonging to the terror group.
UNRWA was also ordered to vacate its Jerusalem offices in May over lease violations.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
