Two bills passed in the Israeli Knesset on Monday ban the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) from operating in Israeli territory and prohibit Israeli authorities from any contact with the agency (Israeli parliament votes to ban Unrwa from Israel within 90 days, 28 October). The legislation will stop all Unrwa’s operations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where it provides education and health services to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. It will also severely restrict Unrwa activities in the Gaza Strip, where the agency depends on coordination with Israel to provide humanitarian aid.
This legislation blitz comes on top of an existing health crisis in the West Bank, related to the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal crisis with Israel’s withholding of tax revenues, to the suspension of 40%-50% of travel permits for medical care within Israel since 7 October 2023, and also related to the decrease in Israel-provided healthcare in the West Bank.
