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Palestinians gather to receive aid outside an UNRWA warehouse earlier this month in Gaza.
Israel bans main Gaza aid agency despite warnings from US
The Israeli Parliament on Monday voted to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating in its territory — despite warnings from the Biden administration that doing so could impact US policy toward Israel. The Knesset even voted to designate UNRWA a terror group and to prohibit Israeli authorities from having contact with the agency.
UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, and this could impact millions of people who depend on it for aid. Critics of the legislation, which includes allies of the Jewish state, have expressed concern it will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the local health ministry now says over 43,000 Palestinians have died amid the war over the past year. Foreign ministers from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the UK on Monday expressed “grave concern” over the Israeli move.
This comes roughly two weeks after Washington told Israel it had 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or risk cuts to military support from the US.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Millersaid Monday that the US urges Israel not to implement the legislation, underscoring that UNRWA is playing an “irreplaceable role right now in Gaza, where they’re on the front lines of getting humanitarian assistance to the people they need it.” Miller said there’s nothing that can replace UNRWA amid the current crisis.
Israel accuses UNRWA of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack, which killed roughly 1,200 in Israel and saw hundreds of hostages taken. A UN investigation that concluded in August said nine UNRWA employees may have been involved in the attack and all were fired. Several countries suspended funding to UNRWA over the allegations, but most have since restored funding, but not the US.
We’ll be watching to see how this legislation, which won’t take effect for 90 days, impacts the US-Israel relationship.
Meanwhile, across the border, Hezbollah has elected Naim Kassem to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as secretary general after Nasrallah was killed in September.
Kassem was already one of the group's leading spokesmen, often conducting interviews with foreign media. Critics say he lacks his predecessor's gravitas, but the man considered most likely to succeed Nasrallah, Hashem Safieddine, was also killed in recent weeks as Israel ramps up its efforts to dismantle Hezbollah.
UNRWA funding cuts threaten Lebanon's Palestinian refugees
GZERO went inside the Shatila Camp in Beirut, one of Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camps, to better understand what the loss of UNRWA funding would mean for the people who call it home—the teachers, doctors, and local government workers who rely on UNRWA to provide basic services, like education, healthcare, and clean water to residents. The agency says it has enough funds to last through June, but it will need to make some tough choices after that.
“The reason UNRWA still exists after 75 years is because there is no political solution,” says Dorothee Klaus, URWA’s Lebanon director, “It is time to find a solution for Palestinian refugees to live in dignity like everybody else.
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.
Two horses on the loose bolt through the streets of London near Aldwych on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
Hard Numbers: Horses stirrup trouble in London, Germany to resume UNRWA funding, Argentine students take to the streets, Suspected extremists arrested in Australia, Commodity prices direct inflation
5: Talk about a rough commute … Five military horsesescaped their handlers and galloped through London in a slightly terrifying rush hour spectacle, injuring several people and narrowly dodging crowds of innocent bystanders. Before being recaptured by handlers, the horses gallivanted through the center of town for two hours, traversing roughly six miles. Theimpact of Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” era should never be underestimated.
200 million: Germany plans to resume funding UNRWA – the UN’s main aid organization for Palestine — which it funded with over $200 million in 2023. The move follows the conclusion of an independent review stating Israel did not provide enough evidence of allegations of widespread UNRWA infiltration by terrorist militants that initially caused the suspension. More than a dozen countries paused funding as a result of Israel’s accusations. Germany will be joining Canada, Australia, and Sweden in resuming funding. Other major donors like the US and UK remain on pause.
100,000: Students are protesting nationwide in Argentina, and in a much bigger way than antiwarprotesters on US campuses. Police say 100,000 students and supporters (organizers say closer to half a million) took to the streets of Buenos Aires aloneon Tuesday in defense of free public universities. Annual inflation in Argentina is approaching 290%, and budget cuts are putting public universities in jeopardy.
7: Seven Australian teenagers werearrested Wednesday following a knife attack earlier this month that injured an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest at a Sydney church. Police said the suspects were motivated by religious and “violent extremist ideology.” Video of the attack was shared widely before Australian courts banned it from major social media platforms. Unsurprisingly, Twitter/X owner (and self-appointed free speech czar) Elon Musk wasnot too pleased about the order.
38: Geopolitical tensions — including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza — are puffing up commodity prices, which are currently still 38% higher than pre-COVID averages, according to a new report by the World Bank. That’s keeping inflation from falling — and that’s the benign scenario, where global crises don’t get any worse. If they do, the Bank warns, oil prices could surge above $100 per barrel, driving up global inflation by another full percentage point.
Displaced Palestinians wait to receive UNRWA aid amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, March 7, 2024.
Did the US tell Canada to resume aid to UNRWA?
The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield asked Canadian International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen to keep funding the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Hussen told the Canadian Press.
Canada and the US joined 15 other countries in freezing funding for the humanitarian organization in January after Israel alleged that more than a dozen of the agency’s employees were involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack But Hussen in early March announced that Canada would resume payments.
He said this decision was made after hearing from Thomas−Greenfield. "She implored us to continue to engage UNRWA and to provide UNRWA with the support that it needs, in recognition of the lifeline that UNRWA provides to Palestinians," he said.
A US State Department spokesperson said in an email Wednesday that the US would not “publicly discuss content of our private diplomatic conversations.”
Sweden and the EU have joined Canada in resuming payments to the organization while the UK, Germany and other countries are waiting for more information on the allegations.
The US, the largest donor to the organization, will not be sending money any time soon. President Joe Bidenrecently signed a $1.2-trillion spending package that extends a moratorium on funding the Gaza agency for more than a year.
The agency reports that Israel is refusing to to allow urgently needed food aid to reach Palestinians. The UN has called for a cease-fire to prevent mass starvation in Gaza but negotiations have so far been inconclusive.
The pressure is on Biden to find a solution, because many Palestinians could starve if aid to Gaza continues to face roadblocks.
FILE PHOTO: Palestinian employees at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) prepare food aid rations for refugees, in Gaza city on January 19, 2022
Hard Numbers: Alt-aid for Gaza, 2024 economic outlook, Continent-sized drug racket busted, Stolen bear on the loose
30 million: Canada has made a new pledge to send nearly $30 million in aid to Gaza. The move comes after Canada followed the US lead in cutting funding to UNRWA, the UN relief agency, in light of Israeli accusations that members of the organization had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. According to the last full year of data, in 2022 Canada gave about $24 million to UNRWA. The new batch of Canadian aid will be delivered by other UN agencies such as UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and the World Health Organization. (What’s UNRWA and why is it controversial? Read our explainer here.)
1.4: The IMF’s latest forecasts see Canada’s economy expanding by 1.4% this year, good for second place in the G7’s league of wealthy democracies. The top spot goes to the US, which is expected to grow 2.1% in 2024. Behind Canada, France is in third place at 1%.
19: The US this week charged 19 people from the US, Canada, and Mexico with running a pan-North American drug trafficking scheme involving as much as $28 million worth of methamphetamines, cocaine, and fentanyl, destined chiefly for the streets of Canada. A dozen of the suspects have been arrested, and the others remain at large.
500: Speaking of criminals at large, Canadians, please keep an eye out for anyone trying to sell you a 500-pound taxidermied polar bear. You can’t miss it: It’s 12 feet tall and frozen forever in a “scary roaring bear” pose. Again, it weighs 500 pounds. It was stolen from a resort in Edmonton last month in a rash of taxidermy heists valued at more than $25,000.Palestinian people holding empty bowls try to reach out for food distributed by UNRWA workers at donation point.
UNRWA, explained
UNRWA: What is it?
In the days since Israel accused employees of UNRWA of participating in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, the US and at least nine other countries have temporarily suspended funding for the UN agency, which provides humanitarian aid and social services to the roughly 6 million Palestinians classified as refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
What is the origin of UNRWA?
The United Nations Relief Works Agency was created in 1949 by the recently founded United Nations to provide humanitarian aid and economic support to the roughly 700,000 Arabs of Palestine who fled or were driven from their homes during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.
What does UNRWA do?
It runs schools and health clinics, delivers humanitarian aid, food, and cash assistance to the poor, and runs basic microfinance programs. The agency employs about 20,000 education staff, who run more than 700 schools, and more than 3,000 health staff working at roughly 170 hospitals.
Who funds it?
UN members who donate to its budget. In 2022, the US was the largest single donor country, giving about a third of UNRWA’s $1.2 billion budget, or $343 million. The combined contributions of the EU and its member states amount to about 40% of the budget. Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab donor, coming in with $27 million. Among other leading countries from the Global South, India donated $5 million, Russia gave $2 million, and China just $1 million. You can see the full list here.
How important is Gaza in UNRWA’s work?
About half of the agency’s total staff is employed in Gaza alone, and it is the strip’s largest employer after Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Since Hamas came to power nearly 20 years ago, a security blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt has kept the enclave largely cut off from the outside world. As a result, UNRWA is a critical source of aid and services for the strip’s roughly 2 million people, 75% of whom are refugees.
How will the funding cutoff affect UNRWA?
UNRWA says that without a resumption of funding, it will be unable to continue functioning in Gaza beyond February and that this could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe. Even before Israel’s recent siege, bombardment, and invasion, between 60% and 80% of Gazans lived in poverty, according to the World Bank and the UN. Since Oct. 7, more than 80% of the population has been displaced. Nearly half are sheltering in UNRWA-run facilities. The UN is warning that if UNRWA’s activity is curtailed, a famine will be “inevitable.”
What are the controversies surrounding UNRWA?
Successive Israeli governments have criticized UNRWA for fomenting anti-Israeli sentiment in its schools, taking a political position in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and lending support to Palestinian militants. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who has long called for UNRWA’s dissolution – said the agency is “riddled” with Hamas.
What is the relationship between Hamas and UNRWA?
The militants of Hamas are the governing authority in Gaza, and their movement is deeply rooted in the strip’s religious and social institutions. In principle, this makes it almost impossible for UNRWA to operate without interacting with Hamas or employing its sympathizers.
Abetting or participating in a militant attack, of course, is a different story. UNRWA says it has terminated the employees allegedly involved and opened an investigation into the issue.
What is the relationship between UNRWA and Israel?
Despite its criticisms of UNRWA, Israel relies on UNRWA to distribute aid and provide services in Gaza. If UNRWA were dissolved or incapacitated, Israel’s army would, in principle, have to take on this task itself.
FILE PHOTO: A truck, marked with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo, crosses into Egypt from Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, November 27, 2023.
A dozen countries suspend UNRWA funding over Oct.7 allegations
On Sunday, France, Austria and Japan announced they were joining the US, Germany, Canada, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia and Finland in pausing their funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. At least a dozen employees of UNRWA allegedly cooperated with Hamas in planning the Oct. 7 attacks.
Together, the countries that have pulled their money made up well over 60% of the funds for UNRWA in 2022, and representatives of the organization say they will not be able to function long without the support. Norway and Ireland, however, agreed to continue funding UNRWA, saying their work supporting the displaced and devastated population of Gaza is too important.
What happens now? UNRWA has fired nine of the 12 employees accused of cooperating with Hamas, though the details of their alleged collaboration are not publicly known. The US did frame its suspension of funding as temporary, leaving the door open to resumption. But UNRWA is already regarded with deep distrust within Israel, and the Biden administration may face pressure from its ally not to resume funding.
In the meantime, however, over 2 million Gazans are in desperate straits, displaced from their homes and reliant on UNRWA for what food and medicine they can get. Some are calling for the Gulf states to step in with funding to replace what the West has withdrawn, but no signs yet the money is forthcoming.
The office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City back in 2018.
US cuts aid as UNRWA staff accused of Oct. 7 involvement
The International Court of Justice isn’t the only UN body in the news regarding Gaza today.
The White House on Friday suspended funding for the UN Refugee Works Administration, aka UNRWA, due to allegations that an unspecified number of the agency’s employees had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.
UNRWA is the main UN agency supporting the roughly 6 million Palestinian refugees who live in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. (Here’s a map of where they live.) It provides humanitarian aid and runs schools, medical facilities, and other social services.
The agency itself issued a statement pledging to terminate the staff members allegedly involved and to open an investigation.
The US is the largest single supporter of UNRWA, contributing $343 million in 2022, the last year for which there are full figures. That’s about a third of the agency’s annual budget. More than 40% comes from EU member states, and Brussels said Friday it was “extremely concerned” about the allegations.
Israel has for years alleged that UNRWA has been coopted by the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip. In December, reports emerged of a classified Israeli Foreign Ministry plan to push UNRWA out of the Gaza Strip entirely.
The funding cut couldn’t come at a worse time. Israel's bombardment and invasion of Gaza in response to the October 7th attacks have already left more than 80% of the enclave's population displaced, and with entries of humanitarian and other aid severely restricted, the UN has warned that Gaza's people could face famine and epidemic outbreaks of disease.