00:00This UNRWAN health clinic in central Gaza is always busy.
00:07The UN agency has long been the primary health care provider for Palestinian refugees registered
00:13with the agency.
00:14Now with Gaza's health system devastated by the war, it's more needed than ever.
00:21I'm at the clinic because I am diabetic and four months pregnant.
00:26Thank God I discovered my illness in the first month of pregnancy and the agency is
00:29here to help and support us.
00:32UNRWA was established in 1949 with a temporary mandate to care for Palestinians who were
00:38driven from their homes during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
00:44In the absence of a state over 75 years later, it still provides health care, education and
00:50other government-like services to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their
00:56descendants across the occupied Palestinian territories.
01:02The new legislation will stop it operating in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.
01:09It also bans Israeli authorities from working with UNRWA, effectively stopping its work
01:14in Gaza and the West Bank.
01:18Over the weekend, Israel's government ordered UNRWA to leave its headquarters in East Jerusalem
01:23by 30th of January.
01:27DW spoke to UNRWA's West Bank director at the compound before that order.
01:33By seeking to ban UNRWA's activities, Israel does not live up to its responsibilities as
01:40a member state, its obligations under the UN Charter, under international norms to support
01:46the activity of a UN agency as a member state.
01:51The legislation was passed following allegations that UNRWA staffers were involved in the terror
01:56attacks of October 7 and allowed Hamas to hide in their centers, a claim repeated by
02:02Israel's deputy foreign minister.
02:06UNRWA is part of a problem, it's not part of the solution.
02:10They actually set all their military bases, rocket launchers, weapons bunkers.
02:19UNRWA knew about it.
02:21UNRWA turned a blind eye.
02:23The workers participated in the 7th of October massacre.
02:30UNRWA has consistently condemned the October 7 attack and investigated the accusations
02:35of involvement.
02:37It found that nine employees may have been involved and fired them.
02:42In total, the agency employs 13,000 people in Gaza.
02:48We believe there is a replacement for them.
02:52We know there can be a replacement for UNRWA where the civilian power of those governmental
02:59services are not in the hands of Hamas.
03:02And until the United Nations cleans up this organization from Hamas, giving them civilian
03:07power through this organization, we will not cooperate with this.
03:13But replacing UNRWA isn't as simple as that, officials say.
03:19The difference between the work of UNRWA and that of other UN partner agencies is that
03:24UNRWA is the only agency mandated to provide these government-like services, public services.
03:30No other agency can do that, it's not within their mandate, nor do they have the capacity
03:36to take over this role on the ground.
03:40In Gaza, in ruins after 15 months of war, those who depend on UNRWA's services fear
03:47what's to come.
03:52UNRWA is the first supporter for the people in Palestine and Gaza.
03:55If it's not here, how will we live without their services?
03:59We will not be able to live.
04:03If UNRWA is stopped from working in its current form, observers say international law requires
04:09Israel to fill the void.
04:10But for the moment, it's unclear how this might be done.
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