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Israel’s UN Ambassador Reaffirms Imminent Ban of UNRWA Operations Over Hamas Ties
Ambassador Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, looks on as he speaks to members of the press about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, at the UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon reaffirmed on Tuesday that the controversial UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees and their descendants will face an imminent ban from Israel over its ties to the Hamas terrorist group.
“Within 48 hours, the State of Israel will cease its cooperation with UNRWA,” Danon told the UN Security Council, referring to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. “UNRWA must cease its activities and evacuate all its facilities in Jerusalem.”
The public announcement came after Israel passed legislation in October banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory and prohibiting any Israeli authority from engaging with the agency.
Israel followed up on the legislation this past week, issuing a directive to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding that UNRWA cease all activities in East Jerusalem by Jan. 30.
“This decision was driven by UNRWA’s constant refusal to address the widespread infiltration of its ranks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” Danon added in his remarks on Tuesday.
The Israeli government and research organizations have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed staff, including teachers and school principals, are active Hamas members, some of whom were directly involved in the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023 massacre across southern Israel, while many others openly celebrated it.
On Tuesday, Danon said that UNRWA will be banned from “maintaining any representative, office, service or activity within” Israel and the Jewish state will “terminate all collaboration, communication, or contact with UNRWA or anyone operating on its behalf.”
The ambassador asserted that the decision was “necessary” due to UNRWA’s decision to pursue “political agendas, neglect, and cover-ups over humanitarian principles.” Moreover, Danon contended that UNRWA has “failed to benefit the people who were supposed to benefit from their services.”
Israel has maintained that the agency still employs some 450 terrorist operatives in Gaza, even after firing several over their alleged involvement in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel. Many countries, including the US, paused funding to UNRWA amid allegations that the agency aided Hamas terrorists. UNRWA employs 14,000 staff members in Gaza.
UNRWA officials have denied the agency’s complicity in the Oct. 7 massacre and argued their aid work in Gaza is crucial to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave.
“In two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be crippled,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the 15-member UN Security Council on Tuesday. “Full implementation of the Knesset [Israeli parliament] legislation will be disastrous.”
However, US officials said that the UN is “exaggerating” the impact of Israel’s decision.
“UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous,” US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the Security Council on Tuesday.
“What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services,” she said. “UNRWA is not and never has been the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.”
Experts have told The Algemeiner that UNRWA fosters new generations of terrorists, in part through school curricula that promotes hatred of both Jews and Israelis.
Danon argued that the Jewish state should not be forced to collaborate with an organization that compromises its national security and that it will continue to pursue partnerships with humanitarian groups that are not tied to terrorists.
The post Israel’s UN Ambassador Reaffirms Imminent Ban of UNRWA Operations Over Hamas Ties first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.