Pressure on UNRWA and the International Criminal Court points to a much larger transformation in Gaza – one in which existing international institutions are being weakened as new political and administrative arrangements take their place. Part one of a two-part analysis.

On 1 July 2026, the Board of Peace account on X posted: “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.”

These statements were not separate from a parallel development on the ground. On 27 July, Israeli army forces raided UNRWA’s Qalandia Technical and Vocational Training Institute in Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, firing tear gas inside and around the institute. They also detained teaching and administrative staff and 80 students inside one of the halls.

On 25 August, Israeli occupation forces raided the institute again, accompanied by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the participation of police and other security agencies, and on the decision of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This coincided with a new political track led by the United States through Trump’s Board of Peace, which emerged during a genocide inflicted on the Palestinian people for three years, an unprecedented decline in Israel’s standing globally, and the expansion and growing impact of the war.

According to official announcements, the board was established to oversee the Gaza Strip, supervise reconstruction, oversee Israel’s implementation of the terms of the agreement signed in October 2025, provide........

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