Israel puts plan to UN to disband Palestine aid agency

Israel has given the UN a proposal to dismantle Unrwa, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources.

- J Washington , Ruth Michaelson 

The proposal was presented late last week by the Israeli chief of general staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, to UN officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organisation's secretary general, António Guterres, on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions said.

Unrwa was not involved in the talks as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been refusing to deal with them since last Monday, on the basis of claims, so far unproved, of affiliations of some of the agency's workers with Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Israel insists it is prepared to allow large amounts of aid into Gaza and that the limiting factor is UN capacity. Its decision not to cooperate with Unrwa, however, severely affects that capacity.

Under the terms presented last week, 300 to 400 Unrwa staff would initially be transferred, either to another UN agency such as the World Food Programme (WFP), or to a new organisation specially created to distribute food aid in Gaza.

More Unrwa employees could be transferred in later stages and the agency's assets would also be transferred. Details were vague about who would run any new agency under the scheme, or about who would provide security for its deliveries.

Unrwa, which has been supporting the Palestinian territories since 1949, has been shut out of conversations on its future existence, despite being the largest humanitarian actor in the territory.

"Unrwa has not been systematically privy to conversations related to coordinating humanitarian aid in Gaza," said the organisation's director of external relations, Tamara Alrifai.