Knesset passes bill blocking provision of electricity and water to UNRWA facilities |
A law prohibiting the provision of electricity or water to facilities owned by or operated on behalf of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, passed its third and final reading 59-7 in the Knesset on Monday.
The government-backed legislation requires electricity and water providers to withhold or disconnect service from UNRWA facilities, as well as block the provision of communications and banking or financial services to the agency.
UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — provides education, health care and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
The measure is an amendment to two bills passed by lawmakers in October 2024, barring the agency from operating in Israeli territory and curtailing its activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by banning state authorities from having any contact with it.
The bill clarifies that the provision of electrical and water services should be considered “contact” under the law.
The legislation also allows the government to seize properties in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab in Jerusalem, which had been leased to UNRWA by the state and used as the agency’s offices, “without the need to initiate legal or administrative proceedings.”
The agency