UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United Nations stressed on Tuesday that if Israel implements new laws that cut ties with the UN agency for Palestinian refugeesthe Israeli government will have to meet its needs according to international law.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says there is no other UN alternative to the agency, known as UNRWA. It was a lifeline in time The Israel-Hamas war in Gazaand Israeli law “will have a devastating impact on the humanitarian situation” in the Palestinian territories, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The UN agencies for children, health and migration also stressed that UNRWA is the “backbone” of the world body’s operations in Gaza, where people rely on emergency food aid during the year-long war that killed tens of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins.

The United Nations is encouraged by statements of support for UNRWA from all quarters and countries, Dujarric said, and “we would greatly appreciate the efforts of any member state to help us overcome this obstacle.”

Israel stated that some of the 13,000 UNRWA staff in Gaza participated in the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that triggered the Gaza War. It also accused hundreds of UNRWA staff of having links to the militants and said it had found Hamas military assets in or under the agency’s facilities.

the new laws of Israel

Two laws passed on Monday could prevent UNRWA from continuing its work. Even the United States, Israel’s closest ally, has joined many governments and humanitarian organizations opposing the legislationwhich does not enter into force for three months.

Guterres sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, outlining his concerns and “international law issues that have been raised,” Dujarric said.

As an occupying power, sub international humanitarian lawIsrael must ensure that Palestinians’ needs are met, including for food, health care and education, the UN spokesman said. And if Israel is unable to meet those needs, “it has an obligation to allow and facilitate the activities of the UN, including UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies, to meet those needs,” he said.

“If UNRWA ceases its work – and for us there is no alternative – Israel should fill the void,” Dujarric said. “Otherwise, it would violate international law.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, responded to the Secretary-General’s letter to Netanyahu by saying, “Instead of condemning UNRWA for turning a blind eye to terrorism and, in some cases, participating in terrorism, the UN is condemning Israel.”

He claimed in a statement that UNRWA was not interested in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it “nothing but an arm of Hamas operating under the guise of the United Nations.”

“Israel will continue to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza under international law,” Danon said, “but UNRWA has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for the job.”

Dismay from UN agencies

World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said UNRWA health workers had provided more than 6 million medical consultations in the past year. They also provided immunizations, disease surveillance and screening for malnutrition, and UNRWA’s work “could not be matched by any agency – including the WHO,” he said.

Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office, said that “without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter, health care, education, among others, to the majority of the population of Gaza would stop.”

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide aid to Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that followed the establishment of Israel, as well as their descendants.

Israel faces criticism

Timed to pass the Israeli laws, Norway announced on Tuesday that it would ask the 193-nation General Assembly to request a judgment of the supreme court of the United Nations on whether Israel is obliged to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians by international organizations, including the UN

“The policies of the Israeli government make it increasingly difficult for Palestinians to access life-saving assistance and basic services such as health care and education,” Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, at the regular UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East – this month open to all UN members – speakers endorsed UNRWA and almost all immediately called for ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield expressed deep concern over the Israeli legislation, saying “right now there is no alternative to UNRWA when it comes to delivering food and other life-saving aid to Gaza.”

She also called on Guterres “to create a mechanism to review and address allegations that UNRWA staff have links to Hamas and other terrorist groups.”

UN spokesman Dujarric said the UN’s internal security body was working on it. He said an Israeli government letter from last week raising specific undisclosed issues was also being looked at “extremely seriously”.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller went further, warning that the Israeli legislation “puts at risk millions of Palestinians who rely on UNRWA for essential services”.

Miller reiterated that the US opposes the legislation and will discuss it with Israel in the coming days. He says there could be consequences under US law and policy if it goes into effect, referring to a letter that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent to their Israeli counterparts saying that humanitarian aid must grow or the country risks losing military assistance.

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Keaten reported from Geneva. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.