Israel enacted a law disconnecting UNRWA facilities from utilities and services, while the UN agency warned the move violates international obligations.

Israel passed new legislation to cut off electricity, water, and communications from UNRWA facilities, in a move the United Nations body has called “outrageous.”

Bill 6786-2025 passed its third and final reading in the Knesset on Monday with 59 votes for and seven against. It is an amendment to three existing UNRWA-related bills, including the Law for the Cessation of UNRWA Activities in Israel.

MK Boaz Bismuth, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, introduced the bill by referring to UNRWA as a “partner in terrorism” and a “terrorist organization.” He spoke of UNRWA’s participation in the October 7 massacre and added that “UNRWA has for years been posing as an aid agency when, in fact, it is an arm of Hamas – terrorists in disguise under the auspices of the United Nations.”

“There is no denying the personal identity of UNRWA staff as members of a terrorist organization,” Bismuth said.

Under the bill, government-backed legislation requires electricity and water companies to withhold or disconnect service from UNRWA facilities. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is now also blocked from receiving communications, banking, or financial services. The bill also enables the Israel Land Authority to seize land in UNRWA’s possession. This includes the organization’s headquarters and main training center in east Jerusalem.

UNRWA was quick to express its anger at the bill.

“Yesterday’s vote by the Israeli parliament passing new legislation against UNRWA is outrageous,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, said. He said that the bill was a direct affront to the mandate granted to the agency by the UN General Assembly and contrary to the findings of the International Court of Justice, which oblige Israel, as a UN member state, to fulfill its responsibilities to UNRWA and the broader UN system.

“This stands in clear violation of the State of Israel’s obligations under international law [and] is part of an ongoing, systematic campaign to discredit UNRWA and thereby obstruct the core role that the agency plays in providing human-development assistance and services to Palestine refugees,” he said.

Lazzarini noted that the ICJ ruled in October 2025 that Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them.

The ICJ had concluded that “under international human rights law Israel is required to refrain from impeding UNRWA’s operations” and “expressly rejected Israel’s allegations against UNRWA concerning its alleged lack of impartiality and/or neutrality.”

Specifically, the court “dismissed Israel’s arguments that security concerns arising from unsubstantiated ‘infiltration’ by Hamas justified restrictions on UNRWA’s operations in the [Palestinian territories].” It found no evidence to suggest that the UNRWA lacked neutrality and no evidence that the agency breached impartiality requirements under Article 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It did, however, acknowledge that the neutrality of an organization plays a role in assessing its impartiality under Article 59 and that Israel was “in principle, free to choose humanitarian organizations through which it fulfills its obligation.”

However, Anne Herzberg, legal advisor and UN representative for NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that “the ICJ didn’t look in any real substantive way at the allegations against UNRWA. They seemed to say it was just a few bad apples, and they limited it to the Colonna Review, which was this self-serving investigation set up by the UN to discuss what was happening at UNRWA.”

Herzberg explained that the ICJ did not look at allegations made by many groups that have documented the ties between UNRWA and terrorism or its lack of neutrality.

“So the ICJ did set out this general principle about neutrality and that if a group wasn’t neutral, Israel could place restrictions on it, but actually it really did not do a proper review of UNRWA, simply relying again on self-serving information provided by the UN,” Herzberg said.

Israel prohibits international NGOs that fail to register

Additionally, on Monday, Israel announced that international NGOs that did not renew their registration would no longer be allowed to operate in Gaza or the West Bank. The Foreign Ministry said that the organizations – which include Doctors Without Borders – were notified in March 2025, given nearly 10 months to comply, and granted a “good-faith extension,” allowing continued interim operations. NGOs now prohibited from operating are those that did not complete the process, and they will lose authorization on January 1, 2026.

The ministry added that registration was necessary to prevent terrorist elements and safeguard the integrity of humanitarian activity.

It also stressed that most registered NGOs were still operating in the Gaza Strip and would continue to do so. The overall scope of humanitarian aid (approximately 99%) was also not said to be affected by this measure.

The 37 unregistered organizations on the list to be banned include Action Against Hunger, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam Novib (Oxfam’s Dutch affiliate), the Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden, Medical Aid for Palestinians UK, and Oxfam Quebec.

While many of them have, unsurprisingly, criticized the decision, Herzberg pointed out that, as they did not register in time, they should not be surprised by the measures. “Why do these groups think they don’t have to follow the rules?” she asked.

Herzberg also noted that a lot of the NGOs are unwilling to deal with the terror connections within their own organizations, and Israel is taking steps to rectify this. She explained that declassified documents from inside Gaza showed cooperation between groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Hamas.

“They’ve been willing for the past 15, 20 years to cooperate with Hamas and follow Hamas’s rules, but when Israel is finally setting up a system to prevent a diversion [of funds], they’re unwilling to play by the rules,” she concluded.