The Foreign Ministry notified the UN Sunday night of the cancellation of the agreement between Israel and UNRWA that was signed in 1967.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.
The agreement between the parties was one element that had enabled UNRWA’s activities in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip for the past 57 years.
The move was carried out following the law passed by the Knesset last week, which stipulated that Israel would sever all ties with UNRWA.
Israel notified the United Nations it is canceling its agreement regulating UNRWA operations, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said on X on Monday.
UNRWA’s controversies in the Israel-Hamas War
Israel’s relationship with the UN agency deteriorated after UN Watch accused some of the agency’s staff of praising Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel – where terrorists massacred over 1200 people. Some members of UNRWA were also accused of participating in the attacks.
As Israel began its ground operations in Gaza, with the aim of removing Hamas from leadership and returning the some 250 hostages abducted during the Oct.7 attack, soldiers frequently discovered Hamas facilities embedded in or under UNRWA facilities.
It would later be revealed that some members of UNRWA staff had secondary roles in Hamas – as was the case with Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin.
El-Amin was a Hamas commander in Lebanon and an UNRWA employee.
