Jordan slams Israeli laws designating UNRWA as a 'terrorist organisation'

Jordan condemned moves by Israel’s parliament on Monday to designate the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) - a lifeline for millions of Palestinians - as a terrorist organisation.

In a statement, the Jordanian foreign ministry said the Israeli bid breaks international law and the country's obligations as an occupying force.

It added that Israel was "attempt[ing] to kill [UNRWA], assassinate it politically and target its symbolism, which affirms the right of Palestinian refugees to return and compensation under the international law".

UNRWA provides vital services to Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territories and in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan, such as schools, hospitals, and other essential services.

Amman stressed that the services offered by UNRWA to Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation are "vital", particularly in Gaza where the UN says famine is now widespread.

The Jordanian ministry urged the international community to continue to fund the UN agency until there is a just and legal resolution of the conflict based on the two-state solution.

Early on Monday, the Israeli Knesset passed the first of three readings of the bills designating UNRWA as a "terrorist organisation". 

The sponsor of one of the three bills, Yulia Malinovsky of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu, was quoted as describing UNRWA as a "fifth column within Israel".

Late on Monday, the State of Palestine’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates released a statement on X claiming the Israeli move against UNRWA was an attack on Palestinian refugees' right to return.

"The Ministry considers the Israeli Knesset's first reading approval on Monday, 22 July 2024, of a draft law classifying UNRWA as a 'terrorist organization' a premeditated hostility that aim to eliminate the Palestine refugee issue and their inherited right to return in accordance to United Nations resolutions," the statement read.

"This decision is part of a systematic incitement campaign carried out by Israel, which became evident during the recent genocidal war against the Palestinian people in [the] Gaza Strip, both through Israeli officials' public statements and by targeting UNRWA, its officials, headquarters, institutions, resources, and staff. Which was exemplified yesterday by IOF targeting of a UN aid convoy en route to the Gaza Strip."

In early 2024, Israel claimed, without presenting evidence, that several UNRWA staff were complicit in the Hamas-led surprise attack on 7 October, leading to a number of allies of Israel defunding the agency, including major donors such as the US, UK, and Germany.

To many, this was seen as a coordinated response to the ICJ's ruling that Israel was "plausibly" committing acts of genocide in Gaza but after Israel failed to present evidence and a UN report found the claims to be baseless - combined with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsening exponentially, most countries, including the UK and Germany, have now reinstated funding, with the US partially lifting the funding ban.

In addition to Israel's attempts to defund UNRWA, it has targeted the agency's provisions in Gaza, with only 10 of its 26 health facilities functioning and over 70 percent of its schools bombed by Israel since October.

There are fears that Israel officially designating UNRWA as a terror organisation could give the Israeli military further justification to target the organisation's facilities and staff, as it already has.