UNRWA

UNRWA's mandate is humanitarian and developmental: to provide assistance and protection to Palestine refugees pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.[3] The mandate derives from General Assembly resolutions and has been repeatedly renewed because no political resolution has settled the refugees' status.[6]

UNRWA is institutionally separate from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which handles other refugee populations.[9] This separation is itself controversial because UNRWA is dedicated to one population and uses registration rules that transmit eligibility to descendants in a way critics describe as unique within the international refugee system.[9][8]

UNRWA operates in five fields: Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — including East Jerusalem.[2] Its services include basic education, health care, relief and social services, microfinance, infrastructure and camp improvement, protection-related activities, and emergency assistance. UNRWA provides services directly and states that it does not administer refugee camps or provide their physical security.[10][2]

The agency reports more than 30,000 staff members, most of them Palestine refugees. Before the Gaza war, it operated more than 700 schools and educated more than half a million children across its five fields; education generally ended after grade 9 except in Lebanon.[11] In its 2018 operational report, UNRWA recorded more than 8.5 million primary-health-care consultations, education for 532,857 children, and social-safety-net assistance, including cash and food, for more than 255,000 people.[3]

The chain of events leading to UNRWA's creation began during Israel's War of Independence. General Assembly Resolution 212 (III), adopted on 19 November 1948, created a temporary relief arrangement for Palestine refugees.[12] Three weeks later, Resolution 194 (III) addressed relief, repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation, and compensation.[13] Resolution 302 (IV), adopted on 8 December 1949, replaced the earlier arrangement with UNRWA and directed a shift toward relief and public-works programs.[2][1]

At the time of its establishment, UNRWA was responding to the needs of approximately 750,000 Palestine refugees.[14] Its founding arrangements included an Advisory Commission initially composed of representatives of France, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[13]

UNRWA commenced field operations on 1 May 1950, assuming functions previously associated with the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees.[15] Its original program combined direct relief with relief works intended to develop infrastructure while providing employment. The relief-works component proved unsuccessful and ended in mid-1951; the agency thereafter concentrated on relief, education, health services, and limited rehabilitation.[13] Early services included rations, supplementary feeding, emergency food assistance, shelter, water and sanitation, medical care, education, vocational and teacher training, and scholarships.[13]

A 1952 General Assembly resolution described UNRWA as a "subsidiary organ established by the General Assembly" and endorsed a roughly three-year program beginning 1 July 1951. It contemplated $50 million for relief and $200 million for reintegration, in addition to contributions from local governments and other states.[16] No political resolution followed, however, and the General Assembly repeatedly renewed the mandate. UNRWA entered its eighth decade in 2020.[4]

UNRWA reported 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees across its five fields in 2023. In Gaza, approximately 1.4 to 1.7 million of the territory's roughly 2.1 million residents were registered Palestinian refugees.[6] During the Gaza conflict, UNRWA and other humanitarian organizations faced major constraints in accessing areas, assessing conditions, and delivering assistance.[6]

UNRWA was described as the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza and the primary provider of direct services and relief to Palestinian refugees there.[6] As of 5 February 2024, 154 of its staff members had been killed since hostilities began in October 2023.[6] Approximately two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza were described as depending on UNRWA aid, and several donor governments said that no alternative actor could immediately provide its full range of services.[9]

After the 1967 Six-Day War, arrangements with Israel allowed UNRWA to continue operating in territories under Israeli control, particularly in the Gaza Strip, while maintaining large installations in Gaza and the Jerusalem area.[12] UNRWA uses host-government textbooks and curricula while stating that it reviews learning materials for compatibility with UN values and UNESCO standards. It also reports providing instruction on human rights, conflict resolution, and tolerance.[11]

UNRWA defines a Palestine refugee as a person whose normal place of residence was Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict. Descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, are also eligible for registration under the agency's rules.[7] UNRWA may provide emergency services to certain other displaced people when authorized by General Assembly resolutions.[7]

An Anti-Defamation League backgrounder describes UNRWA's classification as covering people who left in 1948, people displaced from the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, people who were abroad and subsequently not permitted to return to Israel, and their descendants. It states that refugee status may continue after descendants have been resettled or obtained legal residency or nationality elsewhere.[8]

A demographic study distinguishes among registered refugees with UNRWA cards, non-registered refugees without cards, and Palestinians classified as non-refugees.[17] For 2001, it reported 607,770 registered refugees in Judea and Samaria, representing 33 percent of the area's Palestinian population, including 163,139 in camps. It reported 852,626 registered refugees in Gaza, representing 73 percent of Gaza's population, including 460,031 in camps.[17]

UNRWA states that approximately 5.9 million Palestine refugees are eligible for its services, compared with roughly 750,000 when operations began.[18] A 2024 MOPAN assessment reported that, as of 31 December 2022, 6.65 million eligible people were registered and approximately 2.5 million received assistance; the figures use different dates and eligibility categories.[18] More than 1.4 million registered refugees live in 58 recognized camps.[2]

The Institute for National Security Studies attributes growth in UNRWA's caseload from approximately 700,000 at its founding to more than 5.5 million in 2020 to changes in eligibility definitions and the continuation of status despite citizenship, socioeconomic conditions, or involvement in terrorism. These are the source's criticisms, not uncontested institutional findings.[4]

UNRWA depends almost entirely on voluntary contributions from UN member states and other donors. Its 2024–2025 budget document projected that approximately 91 percent of core funding would come from voluntary contributions, with the remainder drawn principally from the UN Regular Budget, indirect support costs, and interest.[19] Its 2024 program budget was reported as $880.2 million, in addition to emergency appeals totaling $1.6 billion, primarily for Gaza.[20] Total funding in 2023 was $1.47 billion.[6]

The United States has historically been UNRWA's largest financial contributor. A published compilation lists approximately $7.4 billion in cumulative U.S. contributions from 1950 through 2024, including $364 million in 2022, $371 million in 2023, and $121 million in 2024.[21] The United States, Germany, the European Union, and Sweden together contributed more than 60 percent of UNRWA's $1.6 billion budget in 2022.[9]

The Trump Administration announced a funding cutoff in August 2018, calling UNRWA's operations "irredeemably flawed," and the Biden Administration resumed contributions in April 2021.[6] U.S. law conditions contributions on UNRWA taking "all possible measures" to ensure that no contribution assists a refugee who has engaged in terrorism.[6] Following the January 2024 pause, Congress enacted a prohibition covering specified prior-year, FY2024, and FY2025 funds through 25 March 2025.[20][22]

Members of Congress have raised concerns about neutrality, vetting, possible diversion to terrorist groups, educational materials, and the definition of Palestinian refugees. Other Members, including some who shared concerns about aspects of UNRWA, argued that its activities were critical and supported continued or increased funding.[6]

The General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate for three-year periods. A resolution adopted on 11 December 2024 passed by 159 votes in favor, 9 opposed, and 11 abstentions and emphasized UNRWA's humanitarian role across its five fields.[23]

On 5 December 2025, the General Assembly extended UNRWA's mandate until 30 June 2029 by a vote of 151 in favor, 10 opposed, and 14 abstentions.[24][25] A 2024 Congressional Research Service report had listed an expiration date of 20 June 2026; the later vote superseded that date.[6][25]

The 2024 allegations concerning UNRWA staff prompted 16 donor states to pause or suspend contributions totaling approximately $450 million. The independent Colonna review reported that a number of those states later resumed funding.[1] The United States has not funded UNRWA since January 2024.[20]

UNRWA was established as a temporary measure but has endured for more than seven decades, becoming an institution whose continuation is both strongly defended and strongly contested.

As a service provider, the agency's scale is substantial. It educated almost 545,000 Palestinian children across the Middle East, and no alternative actor was considered capable of immediately providing the full range of its services in Gaza and its other fields.[9] Before the Gaza war disrupted operations, UNRWA maintained more than 700 schools, a large primary-health-care system, and a social safety net reaching hundreds of thousands of people.[11][3]

As an international institution, UNRWA embodies the unresolved Palestinian refugee question. Its mandate was originally envisioned for two to three years, and its continued renewal reflects the absence of a final political settlement.[4] The General Assembly's December 2025 decision to extend the mandate to 2029, adopted by 151 votes in favor, demonstrates continued broad international support for the agency.[24]

Israeli criticism has focused on UNRWA's intergenerational registration rules, use of host-government curricula, and vulnerability to infiltration by terrorist organizations.[8][11][26] Israel's 2024 legislation translated that criticism into binding law and sharply restricted the agency's ability to coordinate with Israeli authorities and operate in affected areas.[24][27]

The U.S. funding suspension adds a financial dimension to the institutional challenge. Whether UNRWA's mandate can be sustained, or whether any of its functions should be transferred to UNHCR or other bodies operating under different eligibility frameworks, remains disputed.

The most fundamental controversy concerns UNRWA's refugee definition and registration rules. Unlike the framework applied to most refugees through UNHCR, UNRWA registers descendants through the male line across successive generations, including after descendants obtain citizenship or residency elsewhere.[7][8] Critics argue that this system perpetuates the refugee issue, while supporters point to the General Assembly's directions and the continuing absence of a political settlement.[9][2]

A longstanding Israeli critique links the continuation of the refugee problem to a broader Arab policy of refusing to accept Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state and argues that the General Assembly and UNRWA supplied political and material support to that policy.[12] A historical account covering the period through 1976 also stated that industrialized Western countries bore the principal financial burden while wealthy Arab states had not contributed a significant share.[12]

Allegations of Staff Links to Terrorism

In January 2024, Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA employees had participated in the 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks. UNRWA announced contract terminations and an investigation, while the Secretary-General activated an OIOS investigation. The United States and fifteen other donor states paused or suspended contributions.[6][1]

Israel states that it submitted 18 detailed cases to OIOS. According to an Israeli government summary of OIOS's conclusion, evidence obtained in nine cases indicated that the staff members may have been involved; the document emphasizes the qualified wording and notes that the report supplied to Israel was redacted.[26]

A March 2025 Israeli intelligence document states that at least 1,462 of 12,521 UNRWA employees in Gaza, approximately 12 percent, were identified by Israeli intelligence as members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or other Palestinian terrorist factions. It also states that at least 80 of 546 principals and deputy principals in UNRWA educational facilities were identified as members of such organizations.[26] The document says its figures may change as intelligence collection and analysis continue, and the broader allegations remain contested.[26]

The Colonna review reported that, as of March 2024, Israel had not supplied supporting evidence for its broader allegation that a significant number of UNRWA employees belonged to terrorist organizations.[1] Separately, UNRWA investigated 10 employees after a UN Watch report identified 22 people alleged to have engaged in online incitement; UNRWA said only 10 were its employees and that they represented a small fraction of its workforce.[28]

The Colonna Review

The independent review led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna found that UNRWA had established numerous neutrality mechanisms and possessed a more developed approach to neutrality than comparable UN or nongovernmental entities.[1] It nevertheless identified persistent problems involving staff conduct, host-country textbooks, politicized staff unions, governance, oversight, vetting, and the neutrality of installations and education.[1] It recommended stronger governance arrangements and regular reporting on neutrality issues.

An American Jewish Committee assessment emphasized the review's findings concerning problematic educational content, politicized unions, inadequate vetting and training, and misuse of facilities, including allegations involving weapons storage and tunnels.[29] UNRWA committed to implementing the recommendations.[29] From January 2022 through November 2024, UNRWA reported receiving more than 250 complaints alleging neutrality breaches and said that 0.66 percent of its approximately 30,000 personnel were implicated in allegations; that figure concerns allegations, not findings that every person committed misconduct.[11]

Israel's 2024 Legislation

On 28 October 2024, the Knesset passed two laws concerning UNRWA. One barred the agency from maintaining an office, providing services, or conducting activities within Israel's sovereign territory. The other ended the legal arrangements underpinning Israel's contact with UNRWA and prohibited Israeli public authorities from maintaining contact with it.[30] The laws took effect on 30 January 2025.[24][30]

A December 2025 amendment authorized further enforcement measures, including the disconnection of essential utilities from properties used by UNRWA.[24][5] The original legislation also requires periodic reports to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and preserves the possibility of criminal proceedings against UNRWA employees.[30]

UNRWA says the laws obstruct humanitarian coordination and forced the withdrawal of its international staff from the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.[27] The Congressional Research Service reported that the legislation could end or severely hamper operations in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, depending on its implementation and legal challenges.[20]