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30th October 2024 (10 Topics)

Israel bans UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Context

Israel's parliament has banned the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating in the country, effective in 90 days.

What is UNRWA?

  • Established in: 1949
  • The UNRWA was established in 1949 by UN General Assembly to provide aid to about 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
  • UNRWA has been active for decades in the Gaza Strip and for the past year has sought to aid civilians caught up in Israel's war against Hamas militants in the enclave, where many of the 2.3 million people are suffering from a lack of shelter, food and medical care.
  • It operates in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan — where Palestinian refugees took shelter after their expulsion.
  • The UN agency is funded mostly by voluntary contributions from donor states such as the United States, Germany, the European Union, etc.
  • It also gets a limited subsidy from the UN, which is used only for administrative costs.
  • The UN views Gaza as Israeli-occupied territory, and international law requires an occupying power to agree to relief programs for people in need and to facilitate them "by all the means at its disposal."

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