the Assessment acknowledges this broader historical campaign, it presents recent efforts to dismantle UNRWA as a recent development after 7 October 2023. It highlights actions such as formally banning UNRWA in Jerusalem and blocking aid convoys and staff from entering the Gaza Strip.14 Instead of challenging the Israeli regime’s laws and measures targeting UNRWA, through reinforcement of the legal mandate and its humanitarian imperative, the Assessment states that, “Israeli authorities have asked private entities to assume UNRWA’s responsibilities and have threatened third parties, including UN agencies, with repercussions for supporting UNRWA operations, such as by providing fuel or humanitarian aid.”15 Nevertheless, rather than proposing scenarios that align with the UNRWA’s founding legal basis and mandate, it highlights the Agency’s role in maintaining regional politics and contributing to the “security” of the Israeli regime. It states “that the Agency has contributed to Israel’s security by preserving stability in fragile environments”16 and “absorbing social and economic tension.”17 The Agency was created with a mandate to fulfill obligations owed to Palestinian refugees, not the ‘security’ of the colonial regime. The failure to treat the Israeli regime’s campaign to dismantle UNRWA18 14 Knesset News. “Approved in Final Readings: Prohibition on UNRWA’s Activity within the Sovereign Territory of the State of Israel.” accessed July 23, 2025. https://main.knesset.gov. il/en/news/pressreleases/pages/press291024q.aspx.ibid36 15 United Nations. Report to the Secretary-General: UNRWA Strategic Assessment, 2025, 16. 16 Ibid., 1. 17 Ibid., 14. 18 BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, “Israel’s Ban on UNRWA: A Calculated Attack on Palestinian Refugees’ Rights and the UN System,” press release, BADIL, January 2025, accessed August 1, 2025, https://badil.org/press-releases/15697.html and BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, Confronting the Campaign Targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): Determination of Principles and Proposal of a Palestinian Strategic Plan (Bethlehem: BADIL, September 2018), https://badil.org/ cached_uploads/view/2021/04/20/unrwa-crisis-determination-of-principles-and-proposalof-a-palestinian-strategic-plan-badil-sep-2018-eng-1618907779.pdf. 6

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