UN chief: Israeli legislation against UNRWA would be a catastrophe

Proposed Israeli legislation aiming to block the operations of the UN Palestinian “refugee agency” UNRWA would be a "catastrophe" if enacted, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

He added that he had expressed his concerns about the legislation directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Such a measure would suffocate efforts to ease human suffering and tensions in Gaza, and indeed, the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory. It would be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster," Guterres was quoted as having told reporters.

In July, the Knesset granted initial approval for a bill that would classify UNRWA as a terrorist organization. On Sunday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee approved the bill for an initial vote in the plenary.

Responding on Tuesday to Guterres' comments, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon told Reuters, "Israel works with humanitarian agencies that are actually interested in humanitarian aid and not activism or, in some cases, terrorism."

UNRWA, which has long been criticized for cooperating with Hamas, has come under increased scrutiny as its workers have been found to have been directly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

Israel said in January of this year that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. It then presented a dossier showing that the UNRWA workers who participated in the Hamas massacre kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively took part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.

Following the Israeli revelations, Guterres announced the creation of a review group, headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, to look into the Israeli allegations.

The group released its report in April. The report found neutrality-related issues" in UNRWA but also claimed that Israel had yet to provide evidence for allegations that a significant number of its staff were members of terrorist organizations.

Recently, however, the UN acknowledged for the first time that employees of UNRWA may have been involved in Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel.