Knesset backs bill to cut off water, electricity to UNRWA

The legislation would also make it easier for Israel to seize UNRWA-owned buildings in Jerusalem over the UN agency’s ties to terror.

By World Israel News Staff

The Knesset voted Wednesday to back legislation aimed at shuttering the operations in Israel of a United Nations relief agency accused of ties to terrorism.

The Israeli legislature voted 28-8 in the bill’s first reading, sending it to the Knesset’s House Committee for deliberations prior to the second and third readings.

The bill amends existing legislation targeting the UN agency, which was banned from Israel following revelations that a significant percentage of its employees in the Gaza Strip had ties to terror, including some directly involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Last October, the Knesset passed a law barring the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in Israeli territory, including in Jerusalem, where UNRWA operates two offices and a number of schools.

While the law ostensibly mandated the closure of all UNRWA facilities in Israel, government efforts to confiscate the land used by UNRWA’s two offices in Jerusalem have been hamstrung by procedural delays and legal petitions challenging the attempted seizures.

Though both the Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab offices have since been shuttered, Israel has yet to claim either property.

In addition, other UNRWA facilities, including schools, continue to operate.

The new bill, which amends the October 2024 law, would close loopholes enabling UNRWA’s continued partial operation in Jerusalem, and remove barriers to the immediate confiscation of the leased state land used for the now-shuttered offices.

To ensure the closure of all UNRWA-run facilities, the bill also requires that any UNRWA-linked institutions be disconnected from the Israeli electric grid and have their water connection shut off.

Israel has repeatedly accused the UN agency of institutional ties to Hamas, noting that the agency employed dozens of operatives from the terror group and that some of its staff participated directly in the October 7 massacres.

Israeli intelligence briefings have shown that UNRWA teachers, social workers, and administrative employees aided Hamas by storing weapons, helping move hostages, and assisting in logistical preparations for the attack, while UNRWA facilities—including schools and clinics—were used as cover for tunnel shafts, command centers, and weapons depots.

The IDF has also released documents and interrogations indicating that several UNRWA employees joined Hamas-led assault teams on October 7th or served as lookouts.