5 things to know about UNRWA, whose sole mission is to aid Palestinians
Allegations tying aid workers to Hamas shine light on the agency founded in 1949
UNRWA distributes flour to Palestinian refugees in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, Nov. 22. Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
By Beth Harpaz January 30, 2024
Allegations that a dozen UNRWA workers participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks have led the U.S. and other donors to suspend donations to the agency providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Here are five things to know about UNRWA.
1. UNRWA’s unique mission
UNRWA (pronounced “un-ra”) is a shortened acronym for the agency’s full name: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
UNRWA’s sole mission is to serve Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. UNRWA does not manage refugee camps, but instead is tasked with five areas of service: education, healthcare, social services, microfinance and emergency assistance.
The 5.9 million Palestinians served by UNRWA include more than 2 million Gazans who depend on UNRWA for food, medicine and other essential services. UNRWA also runs schools for more than 290,000 Gazan children.
UNRWA’s mandate to serve one group of refugees is somewhat unique among U.N. agencies. In contrast, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — founded in 1951 to assist Europeans displaced in World War II — now aids refugees anywhere in the world, with the exception of Palestinians in UNRWA’s geographic coverage area.
2. UNRWA’s history
In 1947, the U.N. proposed partitioning what was then the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Arab, one Jewish. But Arab leaders rejected the plan, and in 1948, Israel declared independence. Five Arab nations (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) responded by invading Israel. The war lasted nine months and about half of the country’s prewar Arab population fled or were forced to leave during the upheaval.
UNRWA was founded in December 1949 to provide “humanitarian relief to the more than 700,000 refugees and displaced persons who had been forced to flee their homes in Palestine as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war,” according to a U.N. report on the agency.
The U.N. initially defined a Palestinian refugee eligible for UNRWA services as anyone whose “normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” That displacement is referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic.
The 5.9 million Palestinians served by UNRWA today are mostly descendants of the original 700,000 refugees the agency was established to help. In response to criticism that the agency has perpetuated the crisis by granting permanent refugee status to generations of Palestinians, the U.N. points to other protracted conflicts with multiple generations of refugees, including in Afghanistan and Somalia.
3. UNRWA’s funding
UNRWA’s biggest donors in 2023 were the U.S., which provided $343.9 million, and Germany, which gave $202.1 million. That amounted to nearly half of the agency’s $1.16 billion budget, with other European countries accounting for another 25% of the funding.
In recent days, following allegations that some UNRWA workers collaborated with Hamas, the U.S., Germany and many other top donors suspended support for UNRWA.
UNRWA’s commissioner general, Philip Lazzarini, said the cuts threaten the agency’s lifesaving work amid Israel’s war in Gaza, and warned of a “looming famine” there.
UNRWA was in financial peril even before the latest crisis, however. Last June, the U.N. reported a budget shortfall for UNRWA of $75 million. UNRWA finances were also weakened in 2018 when then-President Donald Trump stopped supporting it. In 2021, the Biden administration restored that funding, which had otherwise been sustained by every U.S. president except Trump since UNRWA’s founding.
UNRWA relies on voluntary contributions from U.N. member states, with very little funding coming from the U.N.’s regular budget. UNRWA employs 30,000 people, including 13,000 in Gaza. Only about 200 of UNRWA’s top international jobs are directly funded by the U.N.
UNRWA’s top 20 donors include some of the world’s richest Arab countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. But their combined UNRWA contributions in 2022 amounted to $49.5 million, just over 4% of that year’s budget for the agency.
4. The impact of Oct. 7
Israel’s war in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, has killed thousands of Palestinians, including 150 UNRWA workers, and destroyed half of the territory’s buildings. A million people who are now homeless have been taking shelter in UNRWA’s schools, clinics and other facilities, and most Gazans also now rely on UNRWA for food and water.
In late January, Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in which Hamas murdered 1,200 people and took 240 hostage.
At least two UNRWA staffers were said to be involved in kidnappings, another two were supposedly tracked to the sites of massacres, while others provided logistical support. The Wall Street Journal additionally cited intelligence sources who said 10% of UNRWA staffers are tied to Hamas.
Lazzarini said the agency had fired several agency workers while investigating the charges.
5. A history of controversy
Israel has for years accused UNRWA workers of corruption and other misdeeds, including anti-Israel indoctrination in schools, hiding weapons in schools and allowing Hamas to run tunnels underneath UNRWA facilities.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said UNRWA is “perforated with Hamas,” adding that UNRWA schools have “been teaching the doctrines of extermination for Israel — the doctrines of terrorism, glorifying terrorism, lauding terrorism.”
Israel and other critics also say the agency has helped perpetuate the refugee situation across decades rather than contributing to a solution. At the same time, Israel has for years relied on UNRWA to keep Gaza and the West Bank relatively calm.
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