Israel has given the UN a proposal to dismantle UNRWA, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources.

The proposal was presented by the Israeli chief of the general staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, to UN officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organization’s secretary general, António Guterres, on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions said, the Guardian reported. 

Under the terms presented last week, 300 to 400 UNRWA staff would initially be transferred either to another UN agency, such as the World Food Program (WFP), or to a new organization specially created to distribute food aid in Gaza.

More UNRWA employees could be transferred in later stages and the agency’s assets would also be transferred. 

Some inside the UN, other aid agencies and human rights groups see the Israeli proposal as the culmination of a long Israeli campaign to destroy UNRWA.

“If we allow this, it is the slippery slope to us being completely managed directly by the Israelis, and the UN directly being complicit in undermining UNRWA, which is not only the biggest aid provider but also the biggest bastion of anti-extremism in Gaza,” one UN official said.