Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
New Israeli law banning UNRWA will cost more Palestinian lives, UN aid chief warns
Israeli soldiers enter the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza, February 8, 2024

THE head of the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees said today that Israel’s new laws effectively banning its activities in the country will leave a vacuum that will cause more deaths and create further instability in Gaza and the West Bank.

UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said the new Israeli legislation denied Palestinians a functioning provider of lifesaving services, education and healthcare.

UNRWA has been the main organisation procuring and distributing aid in the Gaza Strip, where almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on it for survival.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
DOLDRUMS: The 26th African Union Summit, 2016. Photo: GovernmentZA/Creative Commons
Features / 4 September 2025
4 September 2025

As the Alliance of Sahel States and southern African nations advance pan-African goals, the African Union must listen and learn rather than parroting the Western line on these positive developments, writes ROGER McKENZIE

A Palestinian girl walks past a heavily damaged building in the Rimal neighborhood, in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, a day after it was hit by an Israeli military strike that killed several people
Gaza / 1 September 2025
1 September 2025
A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward
Features / 29 August 2025
29 August 2025

Money makers already exploit cleaning and catering contracts while the military-industrial complex diverts billions from health to warfare — but Bevan’s vision will endure as long as people fight for it, writes ROGER MCKENZIE

Similar stories
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bom
World / 29 October 2024
29 October 2024
People look up at a damaged building that was hit by Israeli
World / 30 September 2024
30 September 2024