UNRWA was established in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel, when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes. It provides aid, health and education to 5.9 million descendants of those refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and in neighbouring Arab countries.

The new Israeli law does not directly ban UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank and Gaza, both considered by international law to be outside the state of Israel, but under Israeli occupation. However, it will severely impact UNRWA’s ability to work.

UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma said the onus was on UN member states to find a way to get Israel not to implement the law, calling it “a race against time.”

Israel has accused UNRWA staff of involvement in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza. The UN said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack and had been fired. Later, a Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September by Israel - was found to have had an UNRWA job.

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence “we submitted to the UN highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the UN did nothing to address this reality.”

Touma said that in addition to the UN investigation, UNRWA received one formal accusation from Israeli authorities, alleging 100 of its staff were in Palestinian armed groups. UNRWA sought information and cooperation from Israel about the allegations and had not received a response, she said.

Meanwhile, more than 50 countries have written to the UN Security Council and General Assembly urging they take immediate steps to halt arms sales or transfers to Israel.

In a letter to the two UN bodies and Secretary-General António Guterres obtained late on Monday (Tuesday AEDT),the countries spearheaded by Turkey accuse Israel of ongoing violations of international law in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories as well as in Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East.

“The staggering toll of civilian casualties, the majority of them children and women, due to ongoing breaches of international law by Israel, the occupying power, for more than a year now is unconscionable and intolerable,” they said. “We must act urgently to halt the extreme human suffering and regional destabilisation that risks the outbreak of an all-out war in the region.”

The letter calls for the Security Council “to declare an immediate ceasefire to avert this catastrophe” and take action to implement previous resolutions to protect civilians, ensure accountability, and make “a clear demand for the halt of arms transfers to Israel”. The US is a major supplier of weapons and defence systems to Israel.