{"id":629106,"date":"2026-09-27T13:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T13:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/629106\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T13:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T13:16:14","slug":"no-role-for-unrwa-in-gaza-does-the-board-of-peace-toe-israeli-lines-explainer-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/629106\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No role for UNRWA in Gaza\u2019: Does the Board of Peace toe Israeli lines? | Explainer News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States-led Board of Peace (BoP) has said the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) will have no role in Gaza \u2013 echoing a longstanding Israeli demand to sideline the organisation considered a lifeline for millions of Palestinians.<\/p>\n

The board, which has been tasked with overseeing the \u201cceasefire\u201d and Gaza\u2019s reconstruction, said on Friday it would work only with partners it deems reliable and who it believes can meet the needs of Gaza\u2019s population \u2013 a standard it says UNRWA does not meet.<\/p>\n

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The move comes as the BoP unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan on Wednesday aimed at beginning Gaza\u2019s reconstruction, nearly a year after a so-called \u201cceasefire\u201d came into effect in the devastated Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

The plan, presented on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), comes as key elements of the \u201cceasefire\u201d remain stalled, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the disarmament of Hamas.<\/p>\n

UNRWA was established in 1949 to cater to tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes by Jewish militias from areas that currently form part of Israel.<\/p>\n

BoP\u2019s stance on UNRWA comes as Israel\u2019s genocide in the coastal enclave continues, with Palestinians facing nonstop attacks, severe restrictions on humanitarian aid and stalled reconstruction plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcluding UNRWA is not a neutral administrative decision; it is a deeply political one,\u201d Palestinian political analyst and playwright Ahmed Najar told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt aligns the Board of Peace with Israel\u2019s longstanding campaign to marginalise and ultimately dismantle the agency, removing it not only from Gaza\u2019s present but from its future.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what has BoP said about UNRWA, and does it keep toeing the Israeli line on the future of Gaza?\"UNRWA<\/p>\n

What did the Board of Peace say?<\/p>\n

The BoP unveiled a 66-project reconstruction blueprint on the sidelines of the UNGA, with $2.4bn proposed for projects aimed at beginning Gaza\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n

UNRWA was left off the list of UN agencies the board identified as partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Board of Peace\u2019s policy as it relates to UNRWA\u2019s involvement in Gaza is unchanged,\u201d the BoP said in a post on X on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will only work with trusted partners who will deliver for the people of Gaza and contribute to a deradicalised Strip. UNRWA fails on those litmus tests.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, a BoP official, speaking to The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, confirmed that board members had met UNRWA officials several times.<\/p>\n

The official said the agency\u2019s programmes could continue if they served Gaza\u2019s residents well, but maintained that \u201cUNRWA\u2019s days are over\u201d.<\/p>\n

The BoP, which US President Donald Trump launched earlier this year, was conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza after nearly three years of Israel\u2019s genocidal war on the Strip.<\/p>\n

What has UNRWA said?<\/p>\n

In an indirect response, UNRWA acting Commissioner-General Christian Saunders said on Friday in Gaza, \u201cUNRWA remains an institution of considerable humanitarian and strategic value, with capabilities and expertise that are difficult to replicate today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo disregard these capabilities at a moment of such profound need is neither logical nor responsible,\u201d Saunders said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Former UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini on Thursday warned that removing the agency would have a \u201cdevastating\u201d effect on Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to get rid of the agency, but on the other hand they know that if you get completely rid of the agency today, it might have a further \u2026 devastating impact on the population,\u201d Lazzarini told AP on Friday.<\/p>\n

In a separate statement on X, Lazzarini said, \u201cgrandiose plans are what the Board of Peace does best\u201d, noting widespread suffering across Gaza amid Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide.<\/p>\n

The agency has about 11,000 Palestinian employees in Gaza and remains heavily involved in healthcare, education, water and sanitation services. Its exclusion is particularly significant given the scale of displacement and the continuing restrictions on aid entering Gaza.<\/p>\n

UNRWA<\/a> has for decades provided aid and education services to Palestinians in Gaza, occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon \u2013 the neighbouring countries where the Palestinian refugees have been living.<\/p>\n

Palestinians see the agency as safeguarding their right of return to their homeland, while Israel wants it dismantled.<\/p>\n

\"PalestiniansPalestinians receive aid distributed by UNRWA, in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza [File: Abdel Kareem Hana\/AP Photo]What has been Hamas\u2019s response?<\/p>\n

Hamas accused the BoP of adopting Israel\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

Spokesperson Hazem Qassem on Saturday called the decision to exclude UNRWA \u201ca complete alignment with the Zionist [Israeli] position\u201d, saying it was aimed at ending the agency\u2019s operations, preventing it from delivering aid and undermining Palestinian refugees\u2019 right of return.<\/p>\n

Qassem said it was \u201cstrange for the peace council to adopt this hostile stance towards UNRWA while simultaneously failing to provide aid to Gaza or compel the occupation to abide by the ceasefire agreement and halt the daily killings of Palestinians in the Strip\u201d.<\/p>\n

Does the Board of Peace toe the Israeli line?<\/p>\n

Experts say the workings and demands of the BoP align closely with Israel\u2019s vision of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe composition of the board reinforces this concern,\u201d analyst Najar told Al Jazeera,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael is a founding member, while Palestine is not. Not a single Palestinian sits on either the central executive board or the Gaza executive board. Yet these bodies include senior Trump officials, strongly pro-Israel figures, private-equity executives and Israeli businesspeople who will exercise influence over Gaza\u2019s governance and reconstruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Najar said, while other members such as Turkiye may \u201cprovide some counterweight\u201d, so the board does not present itself to be \u201centirely uniform\u201d, the structure of power is \u201cclear\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinians are excluded from the bodies taking the strategic, financial and security decisions about their own land,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On UNRWA<\/p>\n

Israel has for years sought to remove UNRWA from Gaza, accusing the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas.<\/p>\n

The International Court of Justice, in an advisory opinion in October, said allegations that \u201ca significant part of UNRWA\u2019s employees are \u2018members of Hamas \u2026 or other terrorist factions’\u201d had not been substantiated.<\/p>\n

The BoP\u2019s position strengthens the Israeli efforts to dismantle the UN agency.<\/p>\n

Najar said Israel\u2019s \u201chostility\u201d towards the UN agency is also connected to what the agency represents: \u201cthe continuing existence of Palestinian refugees, their rights \u2013 including their right of return \u2013 and the international community\u2019s unresolved responsibility towards them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemoving UNRWA, therefore, serves a political purpose extending far beyond the delivery of aid,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Najar said Gaza could not be \u201ccredibly reconstructed\u201d by excluding the UN agency. \u201cNor should reconstruction be used to erase Palestinian refugee rights or replace an internationally mandated institution with mechanisms that are more politically compliant. If the board is serious about rebuilding Gaza for its people, UNRWA must be part of that process, and Palestinians must be at its centre, not placed at the bottom of a foreign-controlled hierarchy,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

On Hamas disarmament<\/p>\n

Hamas and other Palestinian factions agreed in July to a roadmap under which weapons would be surrendered in stages as Israeli forces gradually withdrew. The two processes were explicitly linked.<\/p>\n

But following an August meeting between Nickolay Mladenov, the BoP\u2019s director-general, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the board said Israeli forces would not withdraw beyond the \u201cYellow Line\u201d until Hamas\u2019s decommissioning was complete, including \u201clight weapons, heavy weapons, and the tunnels alike\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hamas maintains that it will not implement its obligations unless Israel fulfils its own.<\/p>\n

Israel currently occupies more than 60 percent of Gaza while most of the territory\u2019s 2.3 million people remain displaced.<\/p>\n

On reconstruction<\/p>\n

Article 17 of the BoP plan calls for \u201ctemporary reconstruction\u201d beginning in areas designated free of Hamas control, including humanitarian compounds for unarmed civilians.<\/p>\n

The proposed system would direct reconstruction, aid and shelter towards areas outside Hamas\u2019s control while Israeli forces remain behind the so-called \u201cYellow Line\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Israel has refused to allow the Palestinian technocratic committee into Gaza, open crossings or begin reconstruction until Hamas is completely disarmed.<\/p>\n

After unveiling the reconstruction plan on the sidelines of the UNGA, BoP high representative Mladenov said once again the proposed plan depends on Hamas\u2019s disarmament.<\/p>\n

\"DisplacedDisplaced Palestinians live in a school run by UNRWA in June 2025 [File: Jehad Alshrafi\/AP Photo]What is the situation in Gaza?<\/p>\n

Almost a year after the October 2025 ceasefire, reconstruction has yet to begin on any meaningful scale and Israeli forces continue to occupy large parts of the Strip.<\/p>\n

At least 1,451 Palestinians have been killed and 4,953 wounded in Israeli attacks since the \u201cceasefire\u201d began in October 2025, according to Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n

The healthcare system is on the verge of \u201ctotal collapse\u201d, the ministry said last week, while shortages of fuel, medical supplies and spare parts have disrupted hospitals, water and sanitation services.<\/p>\n

The scale of destruction is also immense. More than half of Gaza\u2019s hospitals and clinics remain nonfunctional, less than 1.5 percent of cropland is accessible and undamaged, and reconstruction needs have reached an estimated $71.5bn.<\/p>\n

Nearly 84 percent of Gaza\u2019s population<\/a> \u2013 more than 1.76 million people \u2013 are living in displacement sites or damaged and inadequate shelters, the UN has said.<\/p>\n

\"FILEPalestinian children gather in the back yard of an UNRWA school in Sidon, Lebanon, on September 12, 2023 [Mohammed Zaatari\/AP Photo]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States-led Board of Peace (BoP) has said the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5697,50,85,46,44,47,43,48],"class_list":["post-629106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-explainer","tag-gaza","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-palestine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}