Israel’s parliament on Monday approved new measures limiting the operations of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), including a ban on supplying water and electricity to properties owned or managed by the agency.
The government-backed “Bill for Stopping the Activity of UNRWA (Amendment), 2025" passed its third and final reading by 59-7 in the Knesset plenum. It was merged with private members’ bills sponsored by Knesset members Limor Son Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) and Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beitenu).
According to the Knesset news site, the legislation, an amendment to the 2024 Law for Stopping the Activity of UNRWA law, bars utility companies from providing electricity or water to any property for which UNRWA is listed as the customer of record and authorizes the state to take over certain Israeli-owned properties used by the agency.
“UNRWA workers were full partners to the cruel massacre perpetrated against us on Oct. 7. They aided, murdered and kidnapped. In practice, UNRWA is an arm of Hamas. Terrorists in disguise, under the auspices of the U.N.,” said Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair MK Boaz Bismuth (Likud).
“Let’s not be confused and let’s not use euphemisms. UNRWA is a terrorist organization for all intents and purposes. This is an organization that was a full partner to the massacre, kidnapping and murder on Oct. 7, and today we are prescribing by law that there is no longer room for it in the State of Israel’s territory,” said Har Melech.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini criticized the new legislation, saying it cuts off essential services and authorizes property seizures in eastern Jerusalem.
Yesterday’s vote by the Israeli parliament passing new legislation against UNRWA is outrageous. It is a direct affront to the mandate granted to the Agency by the UN General Assembly and contrary to findings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which oblige Israel to…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 29, 2025
The legislation exempts UNRWA from Israeli law implementing the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, which Lazzarini called a violation of international law.
Lazzarini said the legislation contradicts International Court of Justice findings that obligate Israel to facilitate UNRWA’s operations. The ICJ ruled in October that Israel must support, not obstruct, the agency’s work.
Israel on Dec. 12 rejected a resolution adopted by the U.N. General Assembly earlier in the day calling on the Jewish state to cooperate with the U.N.’s relief agency for Palestinians, on the grounds that the organization has become a “subsidiary” of Hamas.
UNRWA is a “hotbed of terrorism,” tweeted Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon.
Reuters reported on Dec. 11 that Trump administration officials were in talks to impose terror-related sanctions on UNRWA, which has long been accused of complicity with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and serving as cover for their terror activities.
