Israel must let Unrwa back into Gaza

UN resolution will have no impact on the desperate humanitarian situation in devastated enclave

Director of Unrwa affairs in Gaza Sam Rose: Only Unrwa (UN Relief and Works Agency) with its 12,000 staff in Gaza, has the means, the infrastructure and experience, to solve the humanitarian situation. Picture: AP/Virginia Mayo

Late on Monday night, the UN Security Council passed a US-backed resolution 2803 (2025), based on the 20-point Trump peace plan. The resolution approves the establishment of an international force to restore order in Gaza, protect civilians and open the way for largescale aid and rebuilding. There were 13 votes for, and two abstentions, Russia and China.

The resolution authorises an international stabilisation force to support the demilitarisation of Gaza, which will answer to a Board of Peace. The board will govern Gaza for two years, handing over to an administration which will include a reformed Palestinian Authority.

There are provisions for negotiations to develop a "credible pathway" towards Palestinian statehood. Indications are that the international stabilisation force will not be a traditional UN peacekeeping force, but rather a multinational mission with UN approval. This means Ireland’s triple lock would not block Irish participation in this mission.

Apart from applying some pressure on Israel to open up more entry points into Gaza for humanitarian aid, the passing of the resolution will have no immediate impact on the present desperate humanitarian situation.

Seven-month-old Salem Awad, suffering from severe malnutrition, lies on a mattress in his family's tent in Gaza City, July 28, 2025. Picture: AP/Jehad Alshrafi

More than 1.5 million people in Gaza are slowly being denied the basic needs to survive. This is beyond cruel. It is barbaric and avoidable. The amount of food aid getting through is not sufficient and not efficiently distributed. The IDF is blocking medical supplies from getting to the few functioning hospitals and clinics.

Deaths directly attributed to starvation have already occurred in Gaza. People in the affluent West sometimes have the misconception that starving to death is somehow a benign way to die. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is incredibly painful, as each organ of the body shuts down.

An Irish surgeon, just returned from Gaza after a three-week period of volunteer work, described the high number of amputations he had to perform, many on young children, with minimal equipment, and a severe shortage of painkillers. For RTÉ listeners, he was particularly critical of the lack of medical supplies in a situation where disease is rampant. Most patients’ immune systems are run down, making them particularly vulnerable.

The few aid organisations functioning inside Gaza are in a desperate race against time to provide tented accommodation before winter sets in. The unsanitary conditions of the makeshift shelters exacerbate the misery of the people, already deprived of running water and with intermittent electricity. The amount of rubble that needs to be cleared has been estimated as 13 times the weight of the Giza Pyramid near Cairo.

There is sufficient aid, trucks, tentage, medical supplies and infrastructure repair equipment, built up outside Gaza, to handle the humanitarian crisis. However, the UN agencies and NGOs in Gaza simply have not got the capacity to cope with the scale of the logistics operation required. 

Only Unrwa (UN Relief and Works Agency) with its 12,000 staff in Gaza, has the means, the infrastructure and experience, to solve the humanitarian situation.

Last year, Israel instituted a ban on cooperation with Unrwa and imposed restrictions on its operations. The Israeli restrictions imposed on Unrwa require the organisation to remove its logo off every item of aid it brings into Gaza. This slows down aid distribution immeasurably. 

Israel’s bans Unrwa from bringing in medical supplies and vital repair equipment for desalination plants. It also refuses Unrwa international staff visas to travel to Gaza.

The stated reason for the ban was that Hamas had infiltrated Unrwa and some of its staff members were involved in the attacks on October 7, 2023. In response to these allegations, Unrwa suspended 19, and later dismissed, nine employees, for "possible involvement". 

A United Nations worker prepares aid for distribution to Palestinians at an Unrwa warehouse in Gaza in October 2023. Picture: AP /Hassan Eslaiah

Israel has been intensely collecting evidence against the perpetrators of the October 7 attacks, and yet no evidence was ever given by the Israelis to support the allegations against Unrwa. 

Last month, the International Criminal Court ruled the continuing ban by Israel on Unrwa was against international law.

Israeli minister for defence Israel Katz’s claim that Unrwa only delivered 13% of humanitarian aid in Gaza, was untrue and is misleading. It ignored the fact Unrwa coordinated and facilitated the rest of the humanitarian aid operations with its extensive and established infrastructure.

Unrwa, in addition to its role in coordinating humanitarian aid, was also an important provider of educational needs for 650,000 children living in Gaza. 

Moreover, it used to conduct more than 17,000 medical consultations daily. It would take years for another UN agency to build up a comparable organisation that could replace it.

Israeli longstanding antipathy towards Unrwa is said to be rooted in the belief that without Unrwa, the Palestinians’ status as refugees could be removed, undermining the concept of a Palestinian state.

UN secretary-general Antonio Gutierrez has repeatedly appealed to the Israelis to allow Unrwa in Gaza to continue its work.

Israel’s efforts to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, without Unrwa, by setting up the US-Israel Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was a total failure. Its chaotic aid distribution operation contributed to the deaths of more than 2,000 Gazans seeking aid in the period from May 27 to October 9 this year. It finally has suspended its operations.

Since the war began, 560 aid workers have been killed in Gaza. Unrwa has recorded 380 of its workers killed, including 309 Unrwa personnel, and 72 who supported its activities. In other words, Unrwa has suffered more fatalities among its staff and supporters than all the other aid organisations combined.

That is why Unrwa, and other aid agencies, will mainly use international staff to take the hard decisions. 

The Israeli ban on Unrwa is clearly against the spirit of point 8 of Trump’s plan, which provides for UN and Red Crescent to coordinate humanitarian operations.

In the past few weeks, Unrwa has managed to resume schooling for a small number of children. Since 97% of schools in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, they have set up 231 temporary learning shelters, with 35,000 children attending.

Acknowledging the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave, Israel should suspend its ban on Unrwa in Gaza. Such a move by Israel would be seen as a confidence building measure in President Trump’s 20 point peace plan for Gaza.

It needs to happen, and right now.

• Dorcha Lee is a retired army colonel, and defence analyst, with extensive experience of peacekeeping operations in the Middle East