The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East “has no place in the new Gaza,” U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace said on Wednesday.
“We are turning the page on the complex of perpetual aid dependency & conflict,” the international organization stated, adding, “The people of Gaza deserve better.”
UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza. We are turning the page on the complex of perpetual aid dependency & conflict. The people of Gaza deserve better. https://t.co/MttkJqX1Np
— Board of Peace (@BoardOfPeace) July 1, 2026
Hamas condemned the Board of Peace on Thursday, calling on the international community “to shoulder their responsibilities, and to ensure the continuation of UNRWA’s operations and the protection of its U.N. mandate.
“We reaffirm that UNRWA’s continued humanitarian and relief work is an urgent necessity,” Hamas stated, according to Quds News Network, an outlet affiliated with the terrorist group.
The Board of Peace’s comments came as U.N. delegates gathered in New York for the annual UNRWA Pledging Conference, where countries announced funding for the embattled U.N. agency serving Palestinians.
UNRWA has faced sustained funding shortfalls after the United States and several European countries suspended or reduced contributions, while some Arab donors have also scaled back support. The agency has repeatedly appealed for additional funding to sustain operations in Gaza and across the region.
Israel and some of its allies have long accused UNRWA of enabling terrorist activity through its schools and facilities and of perpetuating the Arab-Israeli conflict through its policies on refugee status and a so-called “right of return” for Palestinians and their descendants.
Ambassador Jeff Bartos, the U.S. representative to the United Nations for U.N. management and reform, told the pledging conference on Wednesday that “doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity.”
“And yet, here we are again. Another annual pledging conference for UNRWA. Same speeches, in fact, if we dusted off and looked a year ago, I bet you your speeches haven’t changed except for the date. Same condemnation of Israel, same failures to condemn Hamas,” he continued.
Bartos told fellow ambassadors that “year after year, you choose to fund UNRWA in Gaza, hoping for, and perhaps even expecting, a different result.”
“This year, you finally have a choice before you. You can choose to fund incitement, terrorism, and stagnation. Or you can choose to fund the Board of Peace, giving Gazans a path to peace, prosperity and real, durable change. The choice is yours,” the envoy stated. “History will not forget.”
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said on Wednesday that the Jewish state had warned “for years” that Hamas terrorists had infiltrated UNRWA.
“No terrorist deserves a U.N. badge, a U.N. paycheck, or the protection of the U.N.,” he tweeted. “Now, after UNRWA dismissed 70 employees linked to terrorist organizations in Gaza, the international community should finally heed Israel’s warnings.”
A Trump administration official told JNS last month that UNRWA’s decision to dismiss 70 staff members was linked to a investigation into ties between agency personnel and terrorist organizations, including involvement in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
On June 8, The Washington Free Beacon reported that the office of the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development found evidence that more than 100 UNRWA staff members participated in Oct. 7 or are affiliated with the terror group’s “military wing.”
According to the report, those findings were forwarded to the U.S. State Department, along with a recommendation that 101 current and former UNRWA staff members be suspended or barred from participating in U.S.-funded aid programs for 10 years. The individuals reportedly include teachers, school principals, security staff, medical workers and psychosocial counselors.
