as a legal emergency, rather than a political challenge, reinforces a
normalization of the Israeli regime’s obstruction as an administrative issue
rather than a violation of UN privileges and immunities under the 1946
Convention.19 The Assessment’s limited treatment of these attacks stands
in contrast to the gravity of what is described: “the gravest loss of life
for any UN agency in history,”20 with over 330 UNRWA personnel
murdered and over 311 UNRWA installations destroyed in Gaza since
the Israeli genocide commenced.21
The four proposed scenarios do not aim to safeguard the UNRWA’s
mandate, rather they advance the political goals of the Israeli regime.
All scenarios are decontextualized from the political and historical
conditions that gave rise to the Israeli genocide on the Gaza Strip, forced
displacement, enforced starvation, and wilful killing. The scenarios are
framed as solutions to funding sustainability challenges. At the same time
the scenarios ignore the political implications of such a shift: the deinternationalization of the Palestinian refugees’ cause and rights, including
their right of return; eliminating international responsibility, recasting it as
a regional or Arab internal issue; and, weakening the symbolic and legal
infrastructure supporting it.
19 United Nations General Assembly, “Resolution 22 (I) of 13 February 1946 (Privileges
and Immunities of the United Nations),” approving the Convention on the Privileges and
Immunities of the United Nations, in Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United
Nations, adopted 13 February 1946 (entered into force 17 September 1946).
20 United Nations. Report to the Secretary-General: UNRWA Strategic Assessment, 2025, 15.
21 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),
“UNRWA Situation Report #181: Situation in Gaza Strip and West Bank, Including East
Jerusalem,” accessed August 1, 2025, https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwasituation-report-181-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem.
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