UNRWA Accuses Israel of Violating International Law Over Its Blockade of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

During a recent visit to Brussels, UNRWA Deputy Commissioner-General Natalie Boucly stressed that the international community—including the EU and the United States—must increase pressure on the Israeli government to ensure unhindered access for humanitarian convoys into the territory.

She said the agency has sufficient food, tents and other essential items to load up to 6,000 trucks. “As winter approaches and hunger continues to engulf the population, it is vital that all this assistance reaches Gaza without delay,” she said. “Our supplies could feed the entire population for roughly three months. But they remain outside, in Jordan and Egypt, unable to enter. The same applies to other UN agencies, as restrictions and barriers have not gone away.”

Boucly estimated that only about half—“if that”—of the required 500–600 trucks are arriving in the devastated enclave each day.

She underlined that Israel, as the occupying power, “is not complying with international humanitarian law or international human rights law,” citing the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as a recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice stating that Israel is obliged to provide residents of the occupied Palestinian territory with “the basic necessities of daily life.”

The same ICJ advisory opinion of October 22 stated that Israel must cooperate with UNRWA. The court found no evidence that the agency lacks neutrality or that a significant share of its staff is linked to Hamas, despite repeated accusations by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Israel has severed diplomatic contacts with UNRWA, claiming the agency was infiltrated by Hamas and allowed “widespread and systematic” use of its infrastructure by militants. The ICJ advisory opinion noted that nine UNRWA staff members were dismissed over possible links to the events of October 7, 2023, but Israel’s broader allegations were not substantiated.

Boucly added that she has seen no indication that Israel intends to reconsider its policy of refusing contact with the agency.

UNRWA was established in 1948 to assist 700,000 Palestinian refugees who fled their homes during the war that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel. The agency was conceived as a temporary institution. Nearly eight decades later, it remains a central provider of medical, educational, social and other services across the occupied Palestinian territories and neighboring countries, where 5.9 million Palestinian refugees are registered.

“This is absolutely not the moment for UNRWA to collapse,” Boucly said. “We are indispensable, because no one else can assume this scale of work.”

In Brussels, she planned to discuss with EU officials, among other issues, the agency’s $200 million (£152 million) funding shortfall that must be covered by March.

“We were conceived as a temporary institution. The only reason we still exist is the collective failure of the international community to find a political solution to this conflict,” she said.

Boucly said that for the first time since the 1993 Oslo Accords, there is hope for a durable political settlement to the protracted conflict. Emphasizing that questions about the parameters of such a settlement fall outside the UN’s mandate, she warned of the risk of missing “this unique opportunity” for peace.

“Without a political solution… neither Israelis nor Palestinians will live in peace,” she said.

In her view, European governments must exert “a different kind of moral pressure” on Israel, making clear that a reconciliation process is essential and that “military force alone will not deliver a peaceful life.”

Boucly, who worked in Jerusalem in 2023, recalled the deep trauma experienced by Israelis after the October 7 attacks, which triggered a wave of hostility toward UNRWA. She said she was subjected to verbal abuse, while some of her colleagues were physically assaulted, as public attitudes toward the agency in Israel shifted dramatically.

While crediting the Trump administration for securing a ceasefire agreement, she expressed concern that much of the peacebuilding effort is taking place “outside the usual tools of multilateral diplomacy and outside the traditional UN peacekeeping framework.”

As a result, she said, key details remain missing—including the composition and mandate of the proposed Peace Council, which the US president is expected to lead. “You need to know where you’re heading, otherwise the winds will carry you somewhere entirely different,” she warned.

UNRWA provides several hours of daily instruction and psychological support to roughly 40,000 children across 280 “temporary learning spaces” set up in shelters throughout Gaza. The agency notes, however, that its work is hampered by Israel’s ban on importing pens and notebooks under current import regulations.

The children attending these centers have endured nearly two years of unimaginable hardship: repeated displacement, the loss of loved ones, hunger, constant bombardment and destruction.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, cited by UNICEF, by early September at least 2,596 children in Gaza had lost both parents, while another 53,724 had lost one—47,804 lost their father and 5,920 their mother.

Boucly warned that Gaza’s orphans “will have nothing left but despair if they cannot see a future for themselves. If these children are not offered even the slightest prospects… we cannot rule out new attacks, the rise of armed groups or something even worse.”