UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that operates for the benefit of Palestinian refugees.

Having been founded in 1949, UNRWA is the only UN refugee agency dedicated to a specific area and refugee crisis. 

The organization continues to operate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, providing humanitarian aid and education for Palestinians.

However, UNRWA has also come under fire for a number of controversies, such as those who claim it creates dependency rather than resettling refugees and others who claim it promotes antisemitism and incitement against Israel in its educational programs.

Humanitarian city in Gaza is a moral, strategic imperative - opinion

When Israel seeks to offer Palestinians the opportunity to access aid in a secure area, it is inexplicably met with skepticism and resistance. Why is Gaza an exception?

PALESTINIANS SHELTER in tents in Gaza City. Civilians deserve a real choice – to remain amid crossfire and Hamas exploitation or to move temporarily to a secure area with access to food, water, shelter, and medical care, the writers argue.
Palestinians walking at the market in Gaza City, on July 21, 2025.

Israeli Medical Association urges more medical equipment, aid to Gazans in letter to Katz

 Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, shelter at a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip May 11, 2024.

Hamas's last stronghold: Why the IDF steered clear of Deir al-Balah - until now - analysis

 UNITED NATIONS headquarters in New York City.

Israel will not renew visa of top UN humanitarian official


Gazans can receive refugee status in France due to 'Israeli persecution,' court rules

This marks the first time in France that nationals from the Gaza Strip have been granted the status of "refugee" by the nation's National Court of Asylum (CNDA).

 Smoke rises in Gaza following a military strike, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 5, 2025.

UN's corrupt aid 'mafia monopoly' preserves Hamas control of Gaza, GHF head tells 'Post'

As Hamas continues to terrorize innocent Gazans and aid workers alike, the UN insists on operating under broken systems that give Hamas a safety net, GHF director Johnnie Moore says.

 Rev. Johnnie Moore visits southern Israel in January 2024.

UNRWA to open office in Turkey, Erdogan says as he calls for more support

Israel last year banned UNRWA, saying it had employed members of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas who took part in the October 7 massacre.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington last year. Turkey under Erdogan is no longer a NATO ally in spirit; it is a rogue state pursuing an expansionist, Islamist agenda that threatens stability, states the writer.

Why Humanitarian Organizations hate the GHF - opinion

The opposition to the GHF stems from humanitarian organizations’ reliance on Hamas operatives in Gaza. These organizations are beholden to Hamas because their operations depend on Hamas.

 Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 3, 2025, in this screengrab taken from video.

How closing Arab refugee camps would undercut the global intifada - opinion

Solving the broader refugee problem would pave the way for more countries to make peace with Israel and would expand the accords more rapidly.

 A PALESTINIAN PUSHES a hand truck with food supplies inside a United Nations food distribution center in the Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, last month.

WATCH: IDF troops destroy Hamas military assets in schools throughout Gaza

Over 800 explosive devices and other weapons that had been hidden throughout Gaza have been found and confiscated. 

 IDF finds Hamas weapons, explosives in Gaza, May 30, 2025.

Akin to Stockholm syndrome: How trauma and coercion influence aid work in Gaza - opinion

UN reports lack balance, fueling reasonable accusations that its workers had become psychologically influenced by the realities on the ground in Gaza.

 UN WORKERS arrive to distribute aid to Palestinians in Khan Yunis, a couple of weeks after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. UN workers in Gaza appear to be facing immense pressure daily, say the writers.

Iraq looks to lead Arab nations as it pledges $20m. to Gaza, Lebanon - analysis

Iraq has sought to spotlight the war in Gaza and to bring Arab countries together on this issue.

 Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein attends the 34th Arab League summit, in Baghdad, Iraq, 17 May 2025

Israel must enforce UNRWA ban laws more strictly, MKs demand

UNRWA’s six schools in east Jerusalem were shut down on May 8, after the Jerusalem Municipality on April 8 issued orders to all six school principals telling them to cease operations within 30 days.

 A damaged sign is pictured at the headquarters of UNRWA following an Israeli raid in Gaza City, on July 12, 2024.

US backs Israel's ban on UNRWA Gaza aid operations at World Court

The US said Israel had the right to determine which organizations could provide basic needs to the population of the Palestinian territories.

 A damaged sign is pictured at the headquarters of UNRWA following an Israeli raid in Gaza City, on July 12, 2024.

WATCH: What’s at stake for Israel at the ICJ in Gaza genocide suit?

Legal affairs correspondent Sarah Ben-Nun joins the Jerusalem Post Studio to discuss what the hearings could mean for Israel.

 Judges arrive at the International Court of Justice at the start of a hearing where South Africa requests new emergency measures over Israel's attacks on Rafah, as part of an ongoing case South Africa filed at the ICJ in December last year, The Hague, Netherlands May 17, 2024.