Germany’s Foreign Office expressed its “deep concern” on Tuesday at the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban the main UN agency helping Palestinians in the Middle East, including in war-torn Gaza.
The work of the agency, known as UNRWA, “provides essential and life-saving humanitarian aid and basic services for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the region as a whole,” a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said in Berlin.
“Without UNRWA’s work, vital humanitarian aid in Gaza would be on the verge of collapse,” she said.
The German ambassador to Israel expressed his concern in similar terms earlier on Tuesday. Steffen Seibert said he was “very worried about the effects” of the ban.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein told dpa that Israel “is committed to international law and to providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
He said that Israel would continue to work with UN agencies such as the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization.
Laws passed with overwhelming majorities
Israeli lawmakers outlawed UNRWA from conducting any activities within the country. A second law, also approved, will prohibit any contact between Israeli authorities and the UN aid group.
Both laws passed with overwhelming majorities in the Knesset on Monday and are set to go into effect in 90 days.
Israel accuses the agency of having been infiltrated by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas and says several UNRWA employees were involved in the attacks on October 7, 2023.
“The humanitarian situation of displaced men, women and children in Gaza is already disastrous. These laws put them at even greater risk,” Germany’s Seibert wrote in a post on X.
The new laws are expected to make UNWRA’s relief work in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank virtually impossible, as Israeli forces control every crossing into the Palestinian territories.
Turkey slams UN ban
Turkey condemned Israel’s ban via a Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday.
“By targeting UNRWA, Israel aims to destroy the two-state solution and prevent the return of Palestine refugees to their homeland,” the ministry said.
“It is the legal and moral obligation of the international community to take a strong stance against attempts to ban UNRWA, which was established by a UN General Assembly resolution,” it said.
Turkey pledged as chair of the UNRWA financing group to continue providing political and financial support to the agency.
