Middle East: Israel passes bill restricting UNRWA operations

Israeli lawmakers voted 92-10 in favor of a controverisal bill that would ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating inside Israel starting next year.

The UN agency is the main humanitarian aid provider in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli move could threaten its work in Gaza, given its reliance on Israeli border crossings to access the area. 

But Israel alleges that the organization had been infiltrated by hundreds of Palestinian "terrorists." Israeli officials did not provide evidence for this claim. 

In August, UNRWA said that nine of its members "may have been involved in the 7 October attacks" and fired them after a series of investigations, but it also argued that Israel's criticism of the organization — which started before Hamas' 2023 attack — was not always justified.

Western countries including the UK, US, France and Germany had all warned against the move to stop UNRWA operations in Israel. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he thought banning the organization would not serve "Israel's interests." 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned the move could "stifle" aid to Gaza, and in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel's Knesset parliament will vote later on Monday on a second bill on severing diplomatic ties with UNRWA.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday after casting his early ballot in the US presidential election that he was renewing efforts to broker a truce or cease-fire deal in Gaza. 

"We need a cease-fire. We should end this war. It should end, it should end, it should end," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, his home state.

The president said that after casting his ballot, he was going "get out of here, get on a secure line, and follow up on that." 

The Biden administration has been taking an increasingly critical tone towards its ally Israel, especially on issues like civilian casualties, but has also continued to export arms to Israel and provide it diplomatic support throughout the conflict.

Recent developments including the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had prompted muted but renewed hopes of brokering some kind of halt to the fighting in Gaza. 

Except for a one-week pause in fighting with daily exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in late November 2023, fairly soon after the conflict began, international talks trying to broker a cease-fire have so far not yielded results.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was pursuing fresh talks on a possible cease-fire and hostage exchange deal in Gaza. 

Netanyahu's office said that Mossad intelligence chief David Barnea had met US and Qatari officials in Doha and agreed they should talk to Hamas about a deal to free the remaining Israelis seized in last year's October 7 terror attack. 

"During the meeting, the parties discussed a new unified framework that combines previous proposals and also takes into account key issues and recent developments in the region," the statement said. "In the coming days, discussions will continue between the mediators and Hamas to assess the feasibility of talks and to further efforts to promote a deal."

The comments come two days after another lead mediator in the talks, Egypt, suggested a two-day truce in exchange for the release of four hostages. 

Israel's Defense Ministry said on Monday that it had earmarked the equivalent of roughly $530 million or €500 million to accelerate the development of a laser air defense system it calls "Iron Beam." 

"The Ministry of Defense has signed a major deal worth approximately 2 billion shekels to significantly expand procurement of the laser interception systems," it said in a statement. 

The system is aimed at improving the interception of drones and other projectiles, which Hezbollah in Lebanon frequently fires towards northern Israel, in recent months saying it is a response to the fighting in Gaza. 

The system would supplement other well-known air defense systems like the "Iron Dome" missile shield.

Israel's Defense Ministry said it would be working with defense companies Rafael and Elbit on the project. 

Elbit said in a statement that it had been awarded approximately $200 million to supply the high-power laser for the system, saying it would "represent a leap forward in future defense against various threats." 

One of the main perceived gains of a laser system to intercept small aerial weapons like drones is cost, with a laser much cheaper to use multiple times than a weapons system requiring some form of disposable ammunition.

 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday issued an evacuation order for large parts of Lebanon's southern city of Tyre.

"Hezbollah's activities force the (Israeli army) to act against it forcefully," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map of targeted areas in the coastal city, urging residents to "head north."

Meanwhile the AFP news agency cited Lebanon’s health ministry in reports that at least five people were killed and 10 others injured in an Israeli strike in Tyre.

An AFP video journalist reported seeing emergency personnel rush a survivor to an ambulance on a stretcher, while other rescuers worked to extinguish a fire at the site, where a residential apartment block had collapsed.

Israel has vowed to cripple Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries. The EU lists the group's armed wing as a terrorist entity.

Hezbollah has launched missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the Palestinian militants' October 7 terror attack last year, which triggered Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The foreign ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom have expressed "grave concern" over the legislation against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) under consideration by Israel’s Knesset.

Israel's parliament is set to vote on two controversial draft laws on Monday would would see restrictions imposed on UNRWA.

The proposed bill would see UNRWA designated as a terrorist organization and would prohibit Israeli authorities from contact with it. It would also ban the agency's work in Israeli-occupied territory.

"UNRWA provides essential and life-saving humanitarian aid and basic services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and throughout the region," the foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

Without its work, the provision of such assistance and services, including education, health care, and fuel distribution in Gaza and the West Bank would be severely hampered if not impossible," the statement went on to say, adding that it would have "devastating consequences."

The Israeli government accuses UNRWA of being involved in the October 7 terror attack, claiming that the aid organization has been infiltrated by Hamas.

The allegations prompted several donor countries — including the US, the EU and Germany — to suspend contributions to UNRWA.

The UN launched an internal investigation into the allegations. In a statement published on August 5, 2024, it said that nine UNRWA employees had been dismissed due to possible involvement in the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Allegations against 10 other employees could not be substantiated.

The foreign ministers said that UNRWA had "taken steps to address allegations regarding individual employees’ support for terrorist organizations and demonstrated its willingness to pursue and implement reform of internal processes in line with the independent review of April 2024."

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned Israel would face "bitter and unimaginable consequences" following an attack on military sites over the weekend.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency quoted IRGC chief Hossein Salami that Israel had "failed to achieve its ominous goals."

Israel struck military sites in response to Tehran's October 1 missile attack, which was in retaliation for the killing of Iran-backed militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards commander.

"Its bitter consequences will be unimaginable" for Israel, Salami warned according to Tasnim.

The government of Iraq on Monday sent a protest letter to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council over Israel’s use of Iraqi airspace to attack Iran.

According to a statement from government spokesman Bassim Alawadi, the letter condemns Israel’s "blatant violation of Iraq's airspace and sovereignty by using Iraqi airspace to carry out an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran on October 26."

Alawadi said that this would be brought up in talks with the US.

On Saturday Israel launched airstrikes on military targets inside Iran which it said was in response to a missile attack on October 1.

Iran said that missile strike itself was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian-backed militant leaders and a commander from the  Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iran’s leadership is mulling the country’s response to Israel’s attack in which Iran said four Iranian soldiers were killed.

The UN Security Council will meet on Monday at Iran's request, with Tehran calling for the body to condemn the strikes.

kb/wd (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)