DaysofPal – The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor) has expressed deep concern over statements by the so-called “Peace Council” indicating its intention to end the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip. The rights organization warned that such a move would constitute a serious violation of the United Nations General Assembly’s authority and undermine the agency’s internationally mandated role as a symbol of the international community’s continuing responsibility toward Palestinian refugees.
In a statement issued Thursday, Euro-Med Monitor condemned remarks published on the Peace Council’s official account on X declaring that there is “no place for UNRWA in the new Gaza” and calling for an end to “permanent dependence on aid and conflict. ” The organization argued that this narrative ignores the reality that Gaza’s dependence on humanitarian assistance is not the result of a culture of aid dependency, but rather the direct consequence of decades of occupation, blockade, starvation policies, and the widespread destruction of the territory’s means of survival.
Euro-Med Monitor said portraying the removal of UNRWA as a way to “move beyond conflict” amounts to denying the unresolved roots of the Palestinian issue, including displacement, occupation, and the denial of Palestinians’ rights to return and self-determination. Eliminating the UN agency that embodies the international community’s responsibility toward Palestinian refugees, it argued, would not resolve the conflict but instead deepen the injustices that gave rise to it.
Rejecting Calls to Replace UNRWA
The organization also criticized comments shared by the Peace Council from Jeffrey A. Bartos, the U.S. representative to the United Nations for Management and Reform, who framed the issue as a choice between funding UNRWA, which he described as a vehicle for “incitement, terrorism, and stagnation,” or supporting the Peace Council, which he claimed offers Gazans “a path to peace and prosperity.”
According to Euro-Med Monitor, this framing presents a dangerous false choice by transforming humanitarian assistance from an international legal obligation toward refugees into a political tool aimed at delegitimizing UNRWA. The organization stressed that lasting peace cannot be achieved by dismantling a UN mandate linked to the Palestinian refugee question but rather by ending settler colonialism and dismantling systems of domination and oppression, including the unlawful military occupation, apartheid, and blockade, while ensuring accountability and safeguarding the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
The rights group further argued that the Peace Council’s position reflects a political and legal framework fundamentally at odds with international law. Instead of treating UNRWA’s mandate, established and repeatedly renewed by the UN General Assembly, as a binding international commitment, the council portrays it as an obstacle to be removed.
Political Agenda and the Right of Return
Euro-Med Monitor warned that by adopting discredited Israeli allegations against UNRWA rather than adhering to international law and UN resolutions, the Peace Council demonstrates that it is not a neutral body concerned with civilian protection or post-war reconstruction. Instead, it said, the council functions as a political instrument seeking to reshape the Palestinian reality according to the interests of the occupying power at the expense of Palestinians’ inalienable rights.
The organization added that the Peace Council’s rhetoric cannot be separated from Israel’s broader campaign against UNRWA. Rather, it said, it serves as a political extension of efforts to undermine the agency’s legal and political standing and weaken its connection to Palestinian refugees’ internationally recognized right of return. That right, Euro-Med Monitor stressed, is firmly established under international law and UN resolutions and cannot be extinguished by delegitimizing the UN institution that embodies the international community’s ongoing responsibility until a just and lasting solution is achieved.
Euro-Med Monitor also maintained that the Peace Council, chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump, has neither the legal authority nor the moral legitimacy to redefine the international framework governing the Palestinian refugee issue. It argued that the council’s involvement in political and military processes that, in its view, have accompanied, and supported Israel’s actions in Gaza disqualifies it from assuming such a role.
UNRWA’s Legal Mandate and Humanitarian Role
The organization further argued that calls for “a new Gaza without UNRWA” effectively reward Israel’s long-running campaign against the agency instead of holding it accountable for violations of international law, including genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Since UNRWA’s mandate is directly linked to the unresolved refugee issue, it said, any unilateral attempt to abolish it constitutes a political effort to eliminate the right of return.
Highlighting UNRWA’s role, Euro-Med Monitor noted that the agency provides the backbone of essential public services for approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. Established under UN General Assembly Resolution 302 in 1949, UNRWA operates across five fields: the Gaza Strip; the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem; Jordan; Lebanon; and Syria. Its mandate, recently renewed through 2029, links humanitarian protection and assistance with the international community’s continuing responsibility toward Palestinian refugees until a just and durable solution is reached under relevant UN resolutions, particularly Resolution 194.
The organization warned that dismantling or replacing UNRWA outside the authority of the General Assembly would constitute a serious breach of the international legal framework governing the Palestinian refugee issue.
Campaign Against the Agency
Euro-Med Monitor said Israel’s campaign against UNRWA forms part of a broader pattern of attacks targeting the Palestinian population and the foundations of civilian life. According to the organization, 391 UNRWA staff members and affiliated workers have been killed, while 312 agency facilities have been damaged or destroyed, many of them serving as shelters for displaced civilians.
The organization further noted that Israel has systematically obstructed UNRWA’s operations by preventing international staff from entering the occupied Palestinian territory for approximately 18 months and by unlawfully seizing, bulldozing, and setting fire to the agency’s headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem in January 2026, describing these actions as serious violations of the United Nations’ privileges and immunities.
Call for International Action
Euro-Med Monitor warned that politicizing humanitarian relief and tying it to unilateral political initiatives undermines reconstruction efforts and replaces an established UN mandate with an entity that lacks accountability to the UN General Assembly or Security Council.
Citing the International Court of Justice’s 2025 advisory opinion, the organization said states are obligated not only to refrain from supporting measures aimed at weakening UNRWA but also to avoid recognizing or assisting alternative arrangements established in its place. It urged governments to ensure the United Nations and its agencies can operate freely in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The organization called on the international community to reject any effort to undermine UNRWA’s mandate or replace it with parallel political structures, fulfill financial commitments to the agency, protect its personnel and facilities, facilitate the return of its international staff, and ensure the agency can fully resume its humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip. It also urged states participating in the Peace Council not to support any arrangement that bypasses the UN system or attempts to redefine the mandates of established UN bodies outside the framework of international law.
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