UNRWA and Israel
The relationship between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and Israel is a feature of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. For decades, UNRWA has faced Israeli allegations surrounding its neutrality. It is the largest relief organization in the Gaza Strip which is currently undergoing a humanitarian crisis during the Gaza war. UNRWA was created as a United Nations agency in 1949 to support the relief of Palestinian refugees in the wake of their expulsion and flight during the 1948 Palestine war. After Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, it requested that UNRWA continue its operations there, which it would facilitate.
In early 2024, Israel made a series of allegations against UNRWA, including that a number of its Gaza Strip staff had participated in the October 7 attacks and that hundreds of them were members of militant groups. The allegations led to aid cuts to the organization, most of which were later reversed with the exception of the United States, the organization's largest donor. Eventually, a UN investigation found that nine UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the attack on Israel and terminated them, found that evidence against nine other staff members was insufficient, and found that there was no evidence against one additional accused staff member. In October 2024, the Knesset—based on these allegations—passed bills banning UNRWA from operating within Israel.
In October 2025, the International Court of Justice found that "Israel has not substantiated its allegations that a significant part of UNRWA's employees are 'members of Hamas… or other terrorist factions".
Background
The 1948 Palestine war saw the expulsion and flight of around 700,000 Palestinians, which were a majority of former Mandatory Palestine's predominantly Arab population, and the subsequent establishment of Israel. These Palestinian refugees were scattered in what became the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and in neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. This displacement has been characterized by most historians as ethnic cleansing.The United Nations intervened to deal with the aftermath of its 1947 partition plan for Palestine, and it chose to create a new special agency for Palestinian refugees, instead of involving the existing International Refugee Organization. Israel and Zionist Jewish organizations worldwide were responsible for this decision to exclude the IRO, as it had been the same body that was assisting European Jewish refugees following their persecution by Nazi Germany during World War II, and they wanted to avoid any comparison or association between the two situations. Furthermore, the IRO's first solution to dealing with refugees would have been repatriation, which Israel sought to avoid. This decision was called one of the UN's "first misguided decisions" by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe.
UNRWA was not committed to the return of Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 war as was stipulated by the UN General Assembly resolution 194, but was created to provide subsidies and employment to the refugees in the camps. It was also responsible for the construction of camps, schools and medical facilities.
UNRWA is a UN agency responsible for supporting the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. It was established to assist Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Palestine war and subsequent conflicts, along with their descendants, including legally adopted children. It now aids over 5.6 million registered Palestinian refugees. In 2023, UNRWA's largest donors were the US, the EU and Germany.
After Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the June 1967 Six-Day War, it requested that the UNRWA continue its operations there, which it would facilitate. A few days after the conclusion of the war, Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan wrote in the closing minutes of a governmental meeting on 19 June 1967 that: "800,000 refugees are now under our responsibility, after years of the world shouting at the Arab states to do something about it." He continued, writing that: "It is not an issue now, let us not raise it. We shall deal with it later... We should be thankful for the fact that UNRWA still takes care of them." Since then the relationship has been characterized by two-state advocate Baruch Spiegel, as "an uneasy marriage of convenience between two unlikely bedfellows that have helped perpetuate the problem both have allegedly sought to resolve."
Immediately following the Six-Day War, on 14 June UNRWA Commissioner-General Dr. Laurence Michelmore and Political Advisor to the Israeli Foreign Minister Michael Comay exchanged letters that has since served as much of the basis for the relationship between Israel and UNRWA. Commonly referred to the Comay-Michelmore Exchange of Letters, the initial letter from Michelmore reiterates a verbal conversation between the two, stating that:
at the request of the Israel Government, UNRWA would continue its assistance to the Palestine refugees, with the full co-operation of the Israel authorities, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas. For its part, the Israel Government will facilitate the task of UNRWA to the best of its ability, subject only to regulations or arrangements which may be necessitated by considerations of military security.
In his responding letter, Comay wrote:
I agree that your letter and this reply constitute a provisional agreement between UNRWA and the Government of Israel, to remain in force until replaced or cancelled.
With a workforce of over 30,000 employees, including approximately 13,000 in Gaza, UNRWA predominantly comprises Palestinian refugees alongside a smaller contingent of international staff. Operating in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, the agency's mandate has shifted from providing employment and humanitarian aid to delivering healthcare, schooling, and social services to the population it serves. Prior to the Gaza war, UNRWA operated 700 schools and 140 health centers in the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA is the only UN agency dedicated to aiding refugees from a specific region or conflict, distinguishing it from UNHCR, a UN agency established in 1950 to assist refugees globally. Unlike UNRWA, UNHCR's mandate includes supporting refugees in achieving local integration, resettlement in third countries, or repatriation when feasible, with the aim of eliminating their refugee status.
Israel has been a longtime critic of UNRWA and considers it an obstacle to resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict, by preventing the descendants of refugees from settling in their present locations and keeping the question of return open. Israel has also expressed concern over what the agency teaches students and over the agency's relation to Hamas; according to Israel, schools operated by the agency have been used by Hamas for terrorist activities. In 2021, UNRWA's major donors, Australia, Canada, UK and the European Union, began investigating hate and violence in UNRWA textbooks, UNRWA responded by blocking access to the textbooks in its website. In a hearing later the same year, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini acknowledged that the content of the UNRWA school curriculum included antisemitism, glorification of acts of terror and incitement to violence.
A few weeks after the 7 October attacks, the Israeli non-profit IMPACT-SE reported that at least a hundred Hamas members had been educated within the UNRWA system, with two confirmed to have participated in the attacks. Israeli officials have said that since the 7 October attacks, several UNRWA members have been observed celebrating the incidents on social media platforms. Prior to the release of the allegations, Israeli officials had discussed ways to shut down UNRWA funding. At the end of December 2023, The Times of Israel reported the contents of "a high-level, classified Foreign Ministry report" outlining a three-step plan to force UNRWA out of post-war Gaza, with step one involving a "comprehensive report on alleged UNRWA cooperation with Hamas". On 4 January 2024, Israel Hayom reported that a group of Knesset members were seeking to halt global funding for UNRWA, based on concerns that it is a tool of Hamas. MK Sharren Haskel stated they sought "to stop funds which are being transferred from various countries to this organization, and remove UNRWA's mask".
On 17 January 2024, UNRWA announced the creation of an independent Review Group to be led by Catherine Colonna, former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, to assess whether the Agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made. The report was published on 22 April 2024 and found that Israel has not provided evidence of claims that many UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. While suggesting ways that neutrality safeguards for UNRWA staff could be improved, the report says that they are already more rigorous than most other comparable institutions. The report also considers that UNRWA is indispensable to Palestinians in the region. The report did not investigate the specific allegation that 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas-led assault on Israel as that was subject of a separate internal enquiry. which on August 5, 2024, found that nine UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the attack on Israel and terminated them. The investigation also found evidence against nine other staff members to be insufficient, and there was no evidence against one additional accused staff member.