Amendment targets UN agency’s facilities in East Jerusalem and bans utilities, telecommunications, and financial services.
On Monday, the Israeli Parliament approved an amendment to a 2024 law that declared the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) illegal in Israel.
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The decision violates international law, strips UNRWA of its immunity, orders the expropriation of its premises in East Jerusalem and cuts off its supplies.
The amendment, which merges three proposals introduced by lawmakers from the far-right Jewish Power party and Israel Beiteinu party, has sparked outrage from UNRWA. Currently, this UN agency provides services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel strips UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) of diplomatic immunity. Ashraf Shannon reports from Gaza City on the implications of the move pic.twitter.com/6p3a5MyhvI
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) December 30, 2025
Stripped of immunity
Article 6 of the amendment states that “the provisions of the United Nations Ordinance on Privileges and Immunities of Dec. 14, 1947, shall not apply to UNRWA.”
That ordinance implemented the United Nations convention of the same name, adopted a year earlier, which guarantees the inviolability of UN premises against “entry, requisition, confiscation and expropriation,” as well as immunity for its officials from arrest or prosecution for acts carried out in the performance of their duties.
The convention also exempts United Nations bodies from all direct taxation and from customs restrictions on the import or export of goods for official use or publications, and obliges UN member states to grant them communications facilities equivalent to those accorded to any other government.
UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said that neither Israel nor any UN member state can unilaterally exclude from a convention it has signed — and that is binding — one of the organization’s agencies.
“You cannot simply decide to withdraw from it and say that it does not apply to part of the United Nations,” he said. “They have chosen to take unilateral measures, and that is completely illegal under international law.” He added that the decision is unprecedented and therefore “shocking at the global level.”
Israel is carrying out a systematic campaign against UNRWA to tarnish its image and halt its operations. The occupation claims that UNRWA is involved in military activities, despite all investigations disproving this allegation.
Recently, the Israeli government closed the UNRWA… pic.twitter.com/jBAQqqq71f
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 30, 2025
Expropriation of UNRWA premises
The law authorizes the Zionist state to seize real estate owned or used by UNRWA or by representatives acting on its behalf in territories Israel considers under its jurisdiction, whether state or municipal.
The Israeli army and police must carry out the expropriations within a maximum of 30 days from the law’s entry into force.
Specifically affected are the agency’s headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, which was already closed in January 2025, as well as the Qalandia Training Center, which trains young people and is located near the military checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem.
On Dec. 8, Israeli police and municipal officials had already forcibly entered the East Jerusalem headquarters and replaced the U.N. flag with an Israeli flag.
Under the approved amendment, Israel’s justice minister may modify the list of properties and areas subject to seizure with the approval of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Cutoff of Essential Supplies
One of the approved amendments expands Article 2 of the original law and requires state authorities and bodies exercising public functions to revoke any license, permit, authorization, or benefit granted directly or indirectly to UNRWA, unless it can be shown that they are not intended for the agency.
This will result in the cutoff of electricity, water and gas to the agency’s premises located in what the law defines as “Israeli territory,” meaning areas not under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
If the UNRWA’s name appears in official records, the supplier must disconnect the service within 15 days.
Telecommunications and Financial Services
The new law explicitly prohibits the provision of telecommunications services to UNRWA, applying a regime similar to that for basic utilities.
Israeli banking, financial and payment institutions may not “provide banking, financial or payment services to UNRWA,” including accounts, transfers or payment systems.
The ban extends to individuals or companies acting on behalf of, or for the account of, UNRWA, even on a temporary or ad hoc basis. Providers, according to the law, may turn to local authorities, police or security forces to verify compliance.
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