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A man looks down at a crowd of people while holding a bag of flour at a UNRWA refugee camp
Image: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/REUTERS Image: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/REUTERS

UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA, supports relief and development aid for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. It gets most of its funding from UN member states.

A girl looks over a railing at a pit formed behind a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees school used as a sheltering place

What is UNRWA?

PoliticsJanuary 28, 2024
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News

November 4, 2024

Middle East: Israel officially cuts ties with UNRWA

October 28, 2024

Middle East: Israel passes bill restricting UNRWA operations

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Embedded external element

Skip next section Reports & Analysis

Reports & Analysis

DW Teaser Podcast | AfricaLink

AfricaLink News November 4, 2024

AfricaLink News November 4, 2024

Israel cuts ties with UNWRA +++ Niger to buy Russian satellites +++ US music legend Quincy Jones dies
ConflictsNovember 4, 202403:02 min
Palestinian Mahfoz Safi (L), resident of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, sits in an armchair in his home and speaks to DW's Emily Gordine.

Why is UNRWA aid agency so important to Palestinians?

Why is UNRWA aid agency so important to Palestinians?

Palestinians in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, tell DW how important the UN aid agency is in their lives.
ConflictsOctober 30, 202404:14 min
US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the US speaks during Security Council emergency meeting on Israeli airstrikes against Iran requested by Russia, Algeria and China at UN Headquarters in New York on October 28, 2024

EU aligns with US on UNRWA's critical role in Middle East

EU aligns with US on UNRWA's critical role in Middle East

Gazans fear their lifeline may collapse after the Israeli parliament voted to ban UNRWA in Gaza in early 2025.
ConflictsOctober 29, 202402:21 min
The damaged headquarters of the UNWRA building in Gaza City

Israeli Knesset votes to cut off UNRWA's aid to Palestinians

Israeli Knesset votes to cut off UNRWA's aid to Palestinians

Monday's Knesset vote means an effective end to the UN body's relief work in Israel.
ConflictsOctober 28, 2024
A large military plane in the sky drops aid packages attached to parachutes over a cloud-covered background

Fact check: Video doesn't show Hamas shooting at airdrops

Fact check: Video doesn't show Hamas shooting at airdrops

A collage of two unrelated clips is going viral, falsely claiming to show Hamas fighters shooting at Gaza aid airdrops.
ConflictsOctober 25, 2024
The damaged Gaza City headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza

Fact check: Black ribbon on UNRWA logo not mourning Sinwar

Fact check: Black ribbon on UNRWA logo not mourning Sinwar

Following Sinwar's death, X is awash with false claims that UNRWA added a black ribbon in mourning.
PoliticsOctober 18, 2024
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In the spotlight

Displaced Palestinians take shelter in a tent in the southern Gaza Strip

Has Israel-Hamas war displaced Palestinian refugees forever?

The plight of Palestinian refugees has worsened since the Israel-Hamas war began. DW explains their status.
ConflictsSeptember 28, 2024
A woman walks past the UNRWA headquarters

After US, Germany freeze aid to UNRWA, could EU follow?

The EU will review its future aid to the Palestinian refugee aid agency amid terror allegations against staff members.
ConflictsJanuary 29, 2024
Three men sit atop the rubble of destroyed houses of the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees

'Catastrophic' humanitarian situation in besieged Gaza

Food, fuel, medicine, water: everything is running dangerously low in the Palestinian territory.
ConflictsNovember 5, 2023
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