Many humanitarian agencies have expressed fears that two measures enacted in Israel on Monday that ban UNRWA, the U.N. agency aiding Palestinians, from operating in the country could cripple its aid deliveries.
The aid has never been more urgently needed. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.2 million people have been displaced over more than a year of war, and face acute and sometimes catastrophic malnutrition.
The laws are to go into full effect in 90 days, and will almost certainly create new hurdles for the agency, formally the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. The agency also works with Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Lebanon and Syria.
Legal scholars, diplomats and aid workers were assessing the new laws’ implications on Tuesday. What was clear was that they could create new diplomatic challenges for Israel, with several European governments condemning their passage and the United States — a top UNRWA funder — being on record against the measures.
Here’s a look at the laws and what might happen next.
What do the laws say?
The 120-seat Knesset passed two bills with overwhelming majorities late on Monday, the first day of its winter session.
The first effectively revokes UNRWA’s invitation, first extended in 1967, to operate within Israel. The legislation says that the foreign minister, Israel Katz, will notify the United Nations of this no more than one week after the bill’s passage. It says that “no Israeli government agencies or representatives may have any contact” with the agency.