Palestinian Authority officials have rejected US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) announcement that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees will no longer be involved in the “new Gaza,” describing it as a politically motivated move, inspired by Israeli influence, to destroy the Palestinian cause.
“Nobody can simply decide to cancel the role of UNRWA,” a Palestinian official said. “The agency’s mandate is rooted in International law and cannot be revoked unilaterally.”
The official, a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told The Jerusalem Post that there is hope Trump will change his mind and reverse the decision to exclude the role of UNRWA.
Palestinian sources said that there have been contacts with “the parties concerned” aimed at preserving UNRWA’s role.
A statement released in recent days by the Board of Peace said that “UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza,” adding “we are turning the page on the complex of perpetual aid dependency and conflict. The people of Gaza deserve more.”
The official said that “UNRWA and the issue of Palestinian refugees is a political issue at the heart of the Palestinian cause,” rejecting what he called the Israeli attempts to reduce it to a humanitarian matter.
“Israel is targeting UNRWA as part of its attempts to undermine the broader Palestinian cause, and we will fight that,” he said.
Palestinian officials claim that canceling the UNRWA was a right-wing decision
Another senior Palestinian official claimed that “although the decision was issued by Trump, who serves as the head of the BoP, everyone knows it was influenced by the Israelis and in particular the right-wing.”
“There is no acceptance of this by the Europeans or the international community,” he said. The official called the decision “nonsense” and argued that if the BoP implements this position, it will lose its credibility.
“This is what the Israelis want – to strip the Palestinians of any political rights,” he said.
“The BoP says that its goal is to achieve peace. So if it is truly credible, it should be working to ensure that Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip.”
The official noted that as long as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains unresolved, there can be no talk of any change to the mandate of UNRWA.
“Israel wants to evade the core issues of the conflict,” one of them said. “They seek to dismiss us and avoid dealing with the root causes of the conflict by eliminating the two-state solution through their expansionist policies in the West Bank, supporting further Palestinian division, and now by targeting UNRWA,” he told the Post.
He said that if Israelis and Palestinians one day reach a comprehensive agreement, the matter of Palestinian refugees, and by extension, UNRWA’s future, would naturally be included in a broader solution and addressed as part of any final deal. “But for now,” he said, “Israel just wants to dismantle the Palestinian question and empty it of its essence.”
“We will do everything to maintain the existence of UNRWA and preserve it,” he added.
During the Israel-Hamas War, Israel accused UNRWA of supporting Hamas, as some of its staff members, according to testimony of October 7 hostage, Israeli intelligence and surveillance footage, backed the terror group’s actions, including participating in the October 7, 2023 massacre. The Israeli military reported that Hamas tunnel shafts and related infrastructure were discovered beneath UNRWA schools.
Over the last almost three decades, successive Israeli governments have accused UNRWA schools of using textbooks that promote antisemitism and encourage hatred of Israel and UNWRA summer camps of promoting terrorism.
UNRWA officials previously dismissed the allegations, saying there was no evidence that significant numbers of their employees were affiliated with or active members of Hamas, and claimed that any such conduct was limited to isolated cases.
Some in Israel have long argued that the Palestinians are using UNRWA to perpetuate the issue of Palestinian refugees under the cover of humanitarian necessity, thus leveraging their demand for the right of return in peace talks and impeding advancement toward resolution.
At the end of 2024, the Knesset passed a law banning UNRWA’s activities in Israel, thereby shutting down its work in east Jerusalem.
The BoP’s statement on UNRWA sparked widespread condemnation across Palestinian factions.
The PA Foreign Affairs Ministry stressed “the vital role of UNRWA in protecting and assisting the Palestinian refugees, and called for the continuation of its work in the Palestinian territory,” describing it as a “lifeline that cannot be replaced and as a stabilizing factor.”
The ministry also said “it rejects all terms that attempt to divide Palestinian geography and demography, such as the term ‘new Gaza’, which seeks to isolate the Gaza Strip from its natural environment,” and emphasized that “the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the occupied territory of the state of Palestine.”
Hamas sharply condemned efforts to end UNRWA’s presence in the Strip, stating that the UN agency “serves as an international witness to the Nakba of the Palestinian people and embodies the international community’s responsibility towards the refugees.”
“Any attempt to undermine or replace the agency constitutes an attack on international law and a bid to liquidate the refugees issue and the right of return,” the terror group said in a statement.
“Ensuring the continuation of UNRWA’s relief activities is essential, particularly given the humanitarian crisis that was created by the occupation in Gaza,” the ministry said.