As part of the strategy by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Knesset (Parliament) approved in its first reading, a bill to amend a law approved in October that suspends the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The new initiative prohibits supplying water and electricity to any property “whose registered consumer is UNRWA,” and grants the State control of the land used by that institution without “the need to initiate legal or administrative proceedings.”

The Israeli legislature passed a law in 2024 to close UNRWA’s premises in occupied East Jerusalem, after accusing its employees of participating in the Hamas airstrike on October 7, 2023.

However, the alleged evidence presented by the Netanyahu government was dismissed following an internal United Nations investigation.

Israel also approved a bill that year that banned the agency from operating in the country, restricted its work in the occupied territories, and prevented any contact between officials and agency staff.

Wafa reported that the new bill emerges as part of the occupation’s efforts to undermine the work of that institution and its attempts to resolve the Palestinian refugee problem.

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