If UNRWA dissolves Gaza, a generation will lose their right to education

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has warned that an entire generation of Palestinians in Gaza could be deprived of education if the agency is dismantled in the Gaza Strip under new Israeli legislation.

Israel's parliament passed a law in October banning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Israel, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, under a 1967 treaty, Reuters reported. The agency's Commissioner-general, Joseph Lazzarini, said Wednesday that enforcement of the law would have disastrous consequences.

He told a UN General Assembly committee: "In Gaza, the dismantling of UNRWA would lead to the collapse of the UN's humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the Agency's infrastructure." In the Gaza discussion without UNRWA, the issue of education will obviously be ignored."

"In the absence of a competent public administration or state, only the Agency is able to provide education to more than 660,000 girls and boys throughout Gaza. Without it, an entire generation would be deprived of their right to education." This, he warned, would sow the "seeds of marginalisation and extremism".

The Israeli legislation will come into force in January 2025. Lazzarini again urged UN member states to take action to prevent Israel from implementing the legislation.

Founded in 1949, the Agency provides aid, health care and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. The United States, an ally of Israel, says the agency's role in Gaza is indispensable. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Peter Greenfield, said Tuesday it is critical that Israel suspend the law.

However, US Republican President-elect Donald Trump is about to be sworn in in January, and some analysts suggest he may take a more permissive approach to Israel. Lazzarini was asked at Wednesday's news conference if he would be in touch with Trump and said yes.

The UN Security Council expressed support for the agency and "strongly warned against attempts to disintegrate or weaken" it. The United Nations regards Gaza and the West Bank as territories occupied by Israel, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has told Israel that as the occupying power, it has a responsibility to replace the Agency's work in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel's Permanent representative to the UN, Daniel Danon, told reporters after Lazzarini's briefing: "We completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005. We disengaged and gave the keys to the Palestinian Authority."

"Now we are under attack, we are at war, we are acting in accordance with international law; That is why we provide humanitarian aid and cooperate with many UN agencies. We are willing to cooperate, but we will not cooperate with terrorists."

Israel says the agency's staff were involved in a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 that triggered the war in Gaza. The United Nations said nine UNRWA staff members, who may be involved in the operation, had been dismissed.

A Hamas commander killed by Israel in Lebanon was also found to have worked for the agency.