UNRWA’s mandate is set to continue for another three years, following a decisive vote at the UN General Assembly on Friday, part of a series of pro-Palestinian resolutions that advanced with wide margins. The US has halted UNRWA funding, and Israel has banned it outright after links with terror groups were disclosed last year.
Arab leaders moved quickly to welcome UNRWA’s renewal. The Arab League said the agency remains essential for millions of Palestinian refugees, especially given the dire conditions in Gaza. Its secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, urged donors to help close a major shortfall in the agency’s budget and also faulted Israel for what he described as attempts to weaken the organization’s standing.
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Egypt issued its own statement praising the outcome as a reinforcement of the international community’s responsibilities toward the refugee issue until a durable political resolution is achieved. Cairo called for stable, long-term financing to keep UNRWA functioning during what it described as an exceptional humanitarian emergency.
Washington’s language regarding UNRWA has seemed to soften in recent months. Israel Hayom noted that the US revised the 20-point plan proposal from banning UNRWA from playing a role in postwar Gaza to allowing the organization to provide aid with the guarantee it won’t maintain links to terrorist groups.
The earlier version of the resolution included a clause declaring that “any organization found to have engaged in the misuse of such aid shall be deemed ineligible to provide ongoing or future assistance.” The updated draft no longer contains that language. Instead, it offers a general reminder that aid must be used exclusively for civilian needs and not redirected to armed groups. Notably, the mechanism that allowed for halting an organization’s activities when staff members were implicated in supporting terror, the measure applied to UNRWA, has been removed.
Israel’s UNRWA ban remains in place, enacted after officials said its staff were directly involved in the Oct. 7 assault. UN investigators later confirmed that nine employees were dismissed following allegations regarding their role. Israel has also cited the death of a Hamas commander in Gaza whom UNRWA acknowledged had been on its payroll.