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As reported by Reuters, the Israeli parliament has decided to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in the country within 90 days in a new law. The U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, stated that this ban on UNRWA would violate international law by violating a founding U.N. charter and a 1946 U.N. convention. Guterres sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for the continuation of UNRWA operations and claiming that the national law cannot be used to bar UNRWA from operation. U.N. agencies have also said that this ban will only bring more harm and can be viewed as a form of collective punishment. Collective punishment, as stated by Reuters, is also considered a war crime. This ban was made amid some of the lowest amounts of aid being received by Gazans all year.

Other U.N. agencies have called UNRWA’s work “indispensable”, as a lot of the workers helping with the polio vaccinations have been part of UNRWA. The Security Council also mentioned that UNRWA is fundamental to humanitarian aid responses in Gaza and that no other organization can replace UNRWA in serving Palestinians.

Since Gaza is considered Israeli-occupied territory, international law requires the occupying powers, in this case Israel, to allow relief programs for the people on the land. This is per Article Two of the U.N. Charter, stating “All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.”

According to Reuters, UNRWA was created in 1949 by the U.N. General Assembly to help Palestinian refugees after the Nakba, where 700,000 Palestinians were displaced. UNRWA has been active in the Gaza Strip for decades and has been helping Palestinians for the entire time, including all of last year.

In response to Guterres’ letter, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Danny Danon, said that they will allow humanitarian aid in Gaza and abide by international law. However, he continued to say that UNRWA has “failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job.”

After Israel’s ban, Norway said that it would put forward a U.N. General Assembly resolution to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) about Israel’s legal obligation. They will discuss whether Israel is violating international law, however, the court’s opinion will be advisory, not binding. It is important to note that the ICJ does not always have enforcement powers and such advisory opinions could be left unimplemented.

Since the announcement of the ban, the foreign ministers of several countries, including, but not limited to, Canada, France, Germany, and Japan, have opposed this ban and said that it could have massive negative consequences.