Two Israeli laws in force since January 2025 bar UNRWA from operating in territory under Israeli sovereignty and prohibit state contact with it; a December 2025 amendment extends that to electricity, water and banking. The ICJ found in October 2025 that Israel must facilitate relief including by UNRWA.
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East subject to restrictions by Israel and the Levant. A directional arrangement: the two parties do not hold the same position in it. Authored once and read from both ends.
L’arrangement
- Statut
- ActiveEn vigueur et opérationnelle. Ne dit rien de la manière dont elle fonctionne, ni de la direction qu’elle prend.Dernier changement significatif : 2025-12-29.
- Ce qu’il couvre
- HumanitaireInstitutionnelJuridique et conventionnelCatégories que l’arrangement est documenté comme incluant. Ce n’est pas une mesure : une relation qui en couvre davantage est décrite plus en détail, non tenue plus fermement.
Synthèse
On 28 October 2024 the Knesset passed two laws: one barring UNRWA from operating in territory under Israeli sovereignty, the other prohibiting contact between Israeli state bodies and the agency. They took effect at the end of January 2025. An amendment passed on 29 December 2025 defines the supply of electricity, water and banking services to UNRWA facilities as prohibited contact, and in January 2026 it was applied to the agency's East Jerusalem sites, which a rights organisation challenged in court. Israel's position is that the agency is compromised by Hamas; a UN internal oversight review made findings concerning nine staff members. The ICJ's advisory opinion of 22 October 2025 found that Israel, as occupying power, must ensure the population's basic needs and facilitate relief, including by UNRWA, and rejected Israel's allegations about the agency's neutrality; the opinion is not binding, and Israel has rejected its findings. UNRWA has since cut staff in Gaza.
Pourquoi c’est important
UNRWA runs schools, clinics and services for refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the laws turn its operation into a question of Israeli law at every crossing and site Israel controls. Resolution 2803 routes Gaza's aid through the UN, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent without naming UNRWA, so the agency's place in Gaza's recovery is not settled by the arrangements now in force.
Événements associés
- La Knesset adopte deux lois contre l’UNRWA 28 oct. 2024 (en vigueur en janv. 2025)
Humanitarian · Political
Ce qui reste inconnu
- The texts of the 2024 laws and the December 2025 amendment were not read; their provisions come from the event record and reporting.
- Which UNRWA operations continue in Gaza and the West Bank, and with what international staff, is not established from a current UNRWA figure.
Lectures que les éléments permettent aussi
- Israel presents the laws as security measures against an agency it says Hamas penetrated; the agency treats them as obstruction of relief, and the ICJ found Israel obliged to facilitate it. The record states the measures and attributes both positions.
Figure ici parce que l’évaluation propre à la fiche n’est pas la seule que ses sources permettent — et non comme une réserve sur l’évaluation ci-dessus.
Questions Watch que cette relation concerne
Questions analytiques permanentes dont les éléments passent par cette relation, chacune avec sa dernière revue. Dérivées de l’objet Watch, jamais reformulées ici.
- HumanitaireLes habitants reviennent-ils dans les camps de Jénine, Tulkarm et Nur Shams, ou les camps restent-ils fermés en vertu d’ordres renouvelés ?
- HumanitaireLe régime qui régit ce qui entre à Gaza — les points de passage, les règles sur les biens à double usage, qui peut livrer — s’ouvre-t-il, se maintient-il ou se resserre-t-il ?
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Évalué au — 2026-01 Dernière revue — 2026-10-11