Israeli bulldozers demolish UNRWA premises in occupied East Jerusalem on 20 January 2026.
Keystone
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is facing the worst crisis in its history. Under political pressure, financially weakened and increasingly sidelined in Gaza, UNRWA’s future looks more and more uncertain.
As he prepared to leave office on March 31, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), was frank about his concern about the future of the organisation, which he said was facing “immense challenges”.
“UNRWA is close to becoming unviable,” he warned during a press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Founded in 1949 to support Palestinians displaced by the 1948 war, UNRWA has since provided basic health and education services to millions of people across the Middle East. Although the agency now performs functions resembling those of a state, it was originally intended only as a temporary relief body. In the absence of a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, however, its mandate has been repeatedly renewed.
Illustration: Kai Reusser, Swissinfo
Since the start of the war in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, UNRWA has come under intense pressure. In just over two years, Israeli bombardments have killed nearly 400External link of the agency’s 13,000 employees in the Palestinian enclave, while hundreds of its facilities have been destroyed – an unprecedented toll in UN history.
In January 2026, tensions escalated further when Israel demolished UNRWA premises in occupied East Jerusalem after banning the agency from operating on its territory.
Eliminating UNRWA has become “a war objective”
“Its elimination has become a war objective,” Lazzarini said of the Israeli attacks against the agency. According to him, UNRWA has been the target of a “disinformation campaign” by the Israeli government, which claims the organisation has been infiltrated by Hamas and is no longer operational in the Palestinian territories. The aim, he added, is to erode international support for both the agency and Palestinian rights within any future political settlement.
Historically opposed to UNRWA, Israel argues that the agency perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by allowing refugee status to be passed down through generations. On the Palestinian side, UNRWA’s refugee registry is seen as recognition of a right of return – a demand rejected by the Israeli government.
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Since 2024, Israel has accused UNRWA of failing in its duty of neutrality and alleged that several staff members took part in the October 7 massacres. The agency, which denies the accusations, suspended the employees concerned.
Several investigations followed. The first, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, concluded that UNRWA had mechanisms in place to safeguard neutrality, although improvements could still be made. A secondExternal link, internal UN investigation found either no evidence or insufficient evidence regarding 10 of the 19 employees accused. In the remaining nine cases, investigators concluded that involvement in the attacks was possible but could not be established with certainty.
Funding suspensions hit UNRWA
Israel’s accusations prompted several countries, including the United States and Switzerland, to suspend financial contributions to the agency. The following year, Bern restored funding, though halved it to CHF10 million ($12.8 million). Washington, formerly UNRWA’s largest donor, ended its support entirely in 2025. In 2023, the US had contributed $422 million to the agency (CHF331 million).
“UNRWA is being slowly strangled,” says Max Rodenbeck, the Israel-Palestine project director at the International Crisis Group in London. “It is almost certain the agency will not survive in its current form,” he adds, pointing to the financial and political pressures it faces.
UNRWA’s budget difficulties predate the Gaza war. The agency depends heavily on voluntary state contributions, meaning its funding fluctuates from year to year. In 2025, it received around $830 millionExternal link, compared with $1.33 billionExternal link in 2024 and $1.48 billion the year before.
The agency recently had to cut salaries for local employees by 20%, while its remaining resources are expected to last only until September, Lazzarini said.
Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland, former Commissioner-General of UNRWA, at a press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi
UNRWA increasingly ‘marginalised’ in Gaza
Last year, Israel imposed operational restrictions on UNRWA. The Israeli parliament adopted legislation banning the agency’s activities on national territory and prohibiting Israeli officials from cooperating with its staff. The move was justified on security grounds and by allegations of collusion between UNRWA and Hamas.
Earlier this year, Israel demolished UNRWA premises in occupied East Jerusalem, disregarding the immunity normally granted to UN buildings.
Lazzarini acknowledged that UNRWA – which played a key role in distributing emergency aid at the start of the war – can no longer provide food assistance in Gaza because Israel is preventing its trucks from entering the enclave.
“UNRWA has been marginalised in Gaza,” Rodenbeck says, adding that “tens of thousands of tonnes of the agency’s supplies are rotting in warehouses”.
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According to its commissioner-general, however, UNRWA remains “one of the main providers of primary healthcare, education, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene”, and has even “expanded its activities” in these areas inside Gaza.
A ceasefire agreement has officially been in force in the enclave for more than six months, although more than 730 PalestiniansExternal link – including eight humanitarian workersExternal link – have been killed during that period. In Geneva, UN agencies regularly report dangerous security conditions and insufficient access for humanitarian deliveries.
The Israel Defense Forces accuseExternal link Hamas of violating the truce and say they are “eliminating terrorists”. They deny blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza, insistingExternal link they are merely “securing” deliveries to prevent them from falling into Hamas hands.
UNRWA excluded from the peace plan
As the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan is due to begin – delayed by the war in Iran – Lazzarini, who is Swiss, admitted he did not know “what room for manoeuvre” would be granted to the organisation.
Asked about the agency’s future, he said he hoped “the agency could recover its temporary character”, adding that he had “urged member states to make use of UNRWA’s staff and expertise in Gaza, which constitute an essential asset for the successful implementation of Security Council Resolution 2803”. Lazzarini called for the continuation of the agency’s essential services, “while involving it in the construction of the future Palestinian institution that, following a political process, would eventually take over its activities”.
Adopted on November 17, 2025, in New York, Resolution 2803External link endorses Trump’s 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. The text recognises the legitimacy of the Peace Council, led by Trump, as a “transitional administration” tasked with defining the terms of Gaza’s “redevelopment”. In January, the council established a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, composed of 15 technocrats responsible for transitional governance.
Barely mentioned in the resolution, the UN is described merely as a “cooperating organisation” for humanitarian aid distribution. While Trump’s name appears six times in the document, UNRWA is not mentioned once.
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Asked about the agency’s role during a visit to Geneva on April 22, Jeff Bartos, US ambassador to the UN for management and reform, said: “The secretary [of state] has been very clear: UNRWA is finished. And as the 20-point plan makes clear, we will focus on the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.”
In this context, “it is very difficult” to know what the agency’s future will look like, Rodenbeck says. “Its future has been debated for some time. Some proposals suggest narrowing its scope or limiting it to certain parts of its mandate.” Any change to that mandate would nevertheless require approval by the UN General Assembly, where all 193 member states are represented.
Asked about the organisation’s future, Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva said that “UNRWA is not part of the solution but part of the problem” and reiterated that Israel “will not cooperate” with the agency, in line with national legislation. Regarding humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, the mission added that “as in other conflicts around the world, specialised UN agencies and NGOs are working on the ground and aid is being delivered”, which it said demonstrated that UNRWA “is not indispensable”.
Lazzarini’s successor still undecided
The successor to Philippe Lazzarini, who stepped down at the end of March, has not yet been named. The appointment falls to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, although he could leave the decision to the next UN chief, who is due to take office next year.
In the meantime, Christian Saunders, a senior official at UN headquarters in New York, is serving as interim head, as he did following the departure of Pierre Krähenbühl in 2019.
Asked what profile would be best suited to the role, Rodenbeck says: “It would need to be someone capable of dealing simultaneously with the situation in Gaza and fundraising for the agency – two very difficult tasks to reconcile. And as you can imagine, it’s not a job many people want.”
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International Geneva
Edited by Virginie Mangin/livm/ptur/ds
