With the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA) was ordered Operations stopped in Israel On Thursday, many Palestinians fear the effects of their lives and their future.

Throughout the 15 -month -old Israel war on Gaza, which uprooted most of its population and reduced most of the pocket to a tissue, UNRWA was a decisive lifeline to support the 2.3 million Palestinians, even when human supplies diminished.

next to UNRWA The decisive humanitarian role, and refugees – who represent 71 percent of Gaza population – are afraid to leave without a link to their original family homes or the right to return to the land that was one day historically and now Israel.

Since its establishment in 1949 to serve and treat hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been forcibly displaced by Israel a year ago, UNRWA symbolized the hope of refugees to return to the homeland.

He sits in front of the remnants of his destroyed house in Khan Yunis, Abu Nayel Hamouda, who is 74 years old, describing UNRWA as a “lifebround across generations”-which has provided education, health care and food in times of peace and war.

“The UNRWA is the lung that Palestinian refugees breathe,” says Hamuda, who was himself originally descending from what was one day in the Palestinian town of Majdal. He was forced to evacuate Majdal as a child, as he became part of Ashkelon in Israel.

“Without them, we were suffocating. My children and their grandchildren went to UNRWA schools, and we were treated in UNRWA hospitals, and this helped us put the surfaces over our heads.”

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset approved laws: one of them appoints UNRWA as the so -called The terrorist organization The other is prohibited from working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. While Israel argues that UNRWA supports “terrorism” by providing aid to Hamas, the judgment has been criticized by many of the international community, including some of Israel’s closest allies.

While Israel’s last stopping has made the shipments of assistance in Gaza Up to 600 trucks per day Possible, the absence of UNRWA, the largest aid organization working in the tape, is a great danger to its inhabitants.

For families like Hamuda, who has relied on the agency for generations, the lack of UNRWA is not just a logistical challenge; It represents the “death penalty for millions of Palestinian refugees, in Gaza and abroad,” he says.

Fill the gap

With the passage of the deadline for the approach to the closure of UNRWA, the refugees let them ask about what will happen after that, especially after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, called on the Palestinians in Gaza to move to Egypt and Jordan, which is the proposal by the Palestinian leaders, Egypt, Egypt and Egypt, and threatens to add more refugees to 5.9 million Those who disperse in Palestine and around the world.

In the refugee camp in southern Gaza in Khan Yunis, Abu Ahmed Hamad, a father for 10 years, he was forced to leave his house in Beit Hannon in northern Gaza to flee violence, reflects his family’s dependence on the agency during times of peace and war. He and his wife carry UNRWA identity cards as well.

“UNRWA is the savior.” “It was a safe haven for us – providing food, shelter, health care, and even entertainment activities for our children during the war.”

Despite the efforts of other humanitarian organizations, Hamad is skeptical about whether they can replace the comprehensive UNRWA services. The war has proven that UNRWA is the most able to deal with the crisis. There were other groups working, but they barely covered a small part of the needs of the Palestinian people, referring to the huge number of UNRWA workers and their experiences in many wars imposed on the Palestinians.

“The Palestinians are the ones who know most of UNRWA and why it is targeted, especially by Israel and the United States. It is replaced by any organization that is not feasible for the Palestinians, and a dangerous victory for the occupation.” “It erases the Palestinian refugee completely.”

A symbol of Palestinian identity

The establishment of the agency was associated in 1949 directly to the United Nations Resolution 194, which confirms the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and receive compensation for their losses.

Many Palestinians view the agency as a major column in their battles for justice and recognition, and they consider it to be closed not only a loss of vital services but also as an attack on this basic right.

“This is greater than aid,” says Ibrahim Abdel -Qader, a refugee from Khan Yunis camp. “What they are trying to do is erasing the refugee issue and the right to return.”

Sami MSHASHA, an expert in Palestinian refugee issues and former UNRWA spokesman, confirms that Israel has been injured by proxy.

“UNRWA is pivotal in several ways,” MSHASHA says. “Israel’s actions against UNRWA bear a tremendous political destruction for refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, not to mention the symbolic importance of closing its 70 -year -old headquarters in [occupied East] Jerusalem Sheikh Jarra. “

MSHASHA notes that more than 200 UNRWA facilities have been destroyed in Gaza, and hundreds of employees were killed during the war. This is in addition to the tremendous financial cuts that affect the agency’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities. The agency launched a weak emergency call for $ 464 million, “but this amount is much lower than $ 1.7 billion that it needs annually to maintain its operations in the five major sites in which it works,” he noticed.

The United States, a major donor to UNAWA for its support for Israel’s actions. In January 2024, the Biden administration reduced the agency’s financing after Israel’s allegations that 12 of its 13,000 employees participated in the October 7 attack on Hamas, which led to the exacerbation of financial pressure.

A poor Palestinian response

MSHASHA also criticizes UNRWA leadership to deal with it for the ban. “There is no clear plan from the agency’s senior management to move in the crisis, despite 13,000 Gaza employees ready to serve,” the expert adds.

He wonders why UNRWA Commissioner -General Philip Lazarini did not visit after Gaza. He is a senior United Nations official in the Middle East. MSHASHA says:

While Israel continues its efforts to undermine UNRWA, the agency must respond with a decisive currency. “Yes, the Commissioner -General faces the Israeli pressure, but the size of the Gaza disaster requires a stronger response and a clear recovery plan. Otherwise, the situation will get worse.”

Hamuda, the 74 -year -old who lived in multiple wars and displacement, fears the future of his family as the embargo comes into effect. He does not want them to face these difficulties without the agency that has been preserved for generations.

He says, “If UNRWA goes, we will not have anything left.” “We cannot stay without it. This is the only thing that we have alive.”

This piece was published in cooperation with egab.