TEHRAN - The Israeli parliament, also known as the Knesset, has banned UNRWA, the only effective humanitarian agency that was capable of distributing the trickle of aid entering the totally blockaded Gaza Strip.

The move means Tel Aviv is withdrawing from an agreement set up by the UN General Assembly in 1967 to allow UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, from operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

A UNRWA spokesman said on Monday that Tel Aviv’s ban on its operations would lead to the “collapse” of humanitarian work in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

“If this law is implemented, it would be likely to cause the collapse of the international humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip - an operation of which UNRWA is the backbone,” Jonathan Fowler told AFP.

Since October 7, the Israeli regime has been targeting UNRWA while at the same time killing hundreds of its 13,000 UN personnel operating in Gaza.

In January, Tel Aviv used a false pretext that around a dozen UNRWA workers had ties to Hamas and were behind the October 7 attacks. The allegations were enough to convince the regime’s staunchest allies in the Western world to cut ties with the UN agency.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says, "There is no alternative to UNRWA."The allegations turned out to be false claims fabricated by Israel. However, this did not prevent damage to the reputation of UNRWA.

Critics say the underlying cause behind Tel Aviv’s opposition to UNRWA boils down to the fact that the regime is waging a genocide in Gaza and the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees stands in the way of implementing this genocide.

As part of this genocide, the regime had its eyes on dismantling UNRWA from day one and it slowly built a false case to demolish the image of this critical agency.

The government of the fascist Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has successfully implemented this after more than a year.

Israeli supporters claim that if Tel Aviv had sought to wage genocide in Gaza it would have done so already.

Experts point out that no atrocity, ethnic cleansing or genocide in the history of wars happened in 24 hours.

The build-up to ethnic cleansing or genocide is slow, hideous and evil.

For instance, Israel could not have gone on day one and bombed a field tent outside hospitals containing people on IV drips and burn them alive. Or, separate hundreds of thousands of men from women and children in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

But the government in Tel Aviv is doing exactly that after a year of bombing the tiny 360 square-kilometer Palestinian territory. And, it is doing so with impunity. 

Apart from the death campaign or destroying the health sector in Gaza, which has prevented Palestinians from receiving basic medical care, the occupation regime is also implementing a starvation campaign.

This is most notable in northern Gaza where no food has entered for more than a month.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Israel’s newly approved law banning UNRWA from operating could lead to "devastating consequences for Palestine refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is unacceptable."

"The implementation of these laws would be detrimental for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for peace and security in the region as a whole," he said.

On Thursday, the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, warned that any decision to ban UNRWA “will be deadly”.

In a statement, UNICEF warned, "UNRWA is the main UN agency providing essential services and protection to Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza. As the Secretary-General has said, ‘there is no alternative to UNRWA.’”

UNRWA is the only United Nations General Assembly-mandated agency to provide for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA runs a range of social services, with over 18,000 employees in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (al-Quds), providing health, education and other essential services for Palestinian refugees. No UN agency can take over this responsibility.

UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent, life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need. With the children of Gaza already facing one of the gravest humanitarian crises in recent history, if fully implemented, this decision will be deadly.”

The reality is that the 2.3 million Palestinian population in Gaza, already starving and traumatized after being forcibly relocated on numerous occasions with no food or water, is going to suffer further.

Despite UNRWA’s limited operations in Gaza today, such as not being able to reach the north of the Strip for fear of death by the indiscriminate Israeli attacks, UNRWA will no longer be able to facilitate the small number of aid trucks entering the enclave.