The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has condemned renewed US and Israeli measures targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), calling for urgent international action against the “Zionist-American” campaign to dismantle the agency.
The movement issued a statement on Saturday in response to a bipartisan bill introduced in the US Congress seeking to dismantle UNRWA and replace it with so-called “alternative humanitarian bodies.”
Hamas described the proposal as another step toward eliminating the agency’s historic mandate and international responsibilities.
The legislation is aimed at ending UNRWA’s role despite its legal mandate to serve millions of Palestinian refugees across the occupied Palestinian territories and neighboring countries, according to Hamas.
The movement stressed that replacing the agency would neither erase the Palestinian refugee issue nor nullify the refugees’ internationally recognized rights.
Furthermore, Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka condemned the US and Israeli campaign against UNRWA, describing it as a “flagrant violation of international law and UN resolutions” and “a direct attack on the right of return for Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948.”
“UNRWA, established under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 of 1949, is not merely a relief agency but an international witness to the Palestinian Nakba,” Baraka said.
The agency embodies the international community’s legal, political and moral responsibility toward Palestinian refugees until United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, which guarantees their right of return and compensation is fulfilled, he added.
“Any attempts to abolish UNRWA, reduce its mandate, or transfer its authority to other bodies will not change the legal and historical reality of the Palestinian refugee issue,” said Baraka.
He further said the right of return remains an inalienable individual and collective right that cannot be waived or extinguished.
The Hamas official called on the United Nations, the UN General Assembly, donor countries and the wider international community to reject US and Israeli pressure, ensure sustainable funding for UNRWA, and strengthen the agency’s education, healthcare, relief and social services in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
He also urged Arab and Islamic countries, humanitarian organizations and supporters of the Palestinian cause worldwide to launch a broad political, legal and popular campaign to defend UNRWA and preserve its international mandate.
The proposal to dismantle UNRWA has received support from several pro-Israel organizations, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the so-called Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and the Christians United for Israel Action Fund (CUFI Action Fund).
The latest initiative builds on measures taken by the administration of President Donald Trump, which signed an executive order in February 2025 barring US federal agencies from providing funding to UNRWA, significantly increasing financial pressure on the agency.
Despite mounting political and financial pressure, UNRWA continues to play a central humanitarian role across the occupied Palestinian territories and neighboring countries.
Around 11,000 Palestinian staff continue providing assistance in the Gaza Strip, while more than 4,000 employees deliver education, healthcare, and other essential services in the occupied West Bank.
Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal assault against Gaza, it has killed more than 390 UNRWA personnel.
