UN backs ICJ declaration that UNRWA is not infiltrated by Hamas; Israel denounces vote

[ad_1] The UN Common Meeting on Friday endorsed the International Court of Justice’s view that allegations of Hamas infiltration of the company are unsubstantiated, in a vote hailed by the group’s chief as “a powerful endorsement” of its neutrality.

“The UN Common Meeting has given a powerful endorsement to the ruling by the Worldwide Court docket of Justice that claims about UNRWA being infiltrated by Hamas aren't substantiated, nor are allegations that UNRWA isn't a impartial group,” UNRWA Commissioner-Common Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, including that the vote is “an vital signal of help for UNRWA from the overwhelming majority of the worldwide neighborhood.”

Citing the ICJ, he mentioned UNRWA is “the important thing humanitarian actor within the occupied Palestinian territory,” urging member states to help its work in Gaza and develop “essential public well being and schooling companies.”

As a part of its latest non-binding advisory opinion, the ICJ additionally asserted that Israel is legally obligated to permit UNWRA to supply humanitarian support in Gaza, and said that the supply of support to the Strip in the course of the conflict there was insufficient.

Lazzarini and different UN officers have touted UNRWA because the spine of the help response in Gaza, although Israel and the Trump administration have accused the company of hyperlinks with Hamas, allegations the company has vigorously disputed. Israel has printed proof of UNRWA staff collaborating within the October 7, 2023, onslaught and in taking and guarding hostages, in addition to accusing the company’s college of persistently glorifying terrorism and opposing the State of Israel’s proper to exist.

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By signing up, you comply with the terms “UNRWA = hotbed of terrorism,” Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, wrote on X in response to Friday’s vote.

Danon accused the Common Meeting of passing “a decision calling on Israel to cooperate with terrorism,” including, “That won't occur.”

He referenced a video printed in February 2024 from the Hamas-led October 7 bloodbath, wherein an an UNRWA worker could be seen abducting Yonatan Samerano’s physique from Israel into the again of an SUV.

“We won't overlook the crimes in opposition to humanity dedicated by UNRWA staff on October seventh,” Danon added. “We won't overlook that an UNRWA ‘social employee’ kidnapped Yonatan Samerano’s lifeless physique to Gaza. For the sake of peace on this planet, UNRWA should go.”

Ayelet Samerano reacts as she screens the video of her son’s physique being kidnapped to Gaza by an UNRWA social employee, throughout a UN Watch summit in Geneva, February 26, 2024. (Screenshot: Hostages Households Discussion board; utilized in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Regulation) The US State Division additionally denounced the vote, calling the decision “unserious and biased, demonstrating the continued prevalence of anti-Israel bias over substantive diplomacy” on the United Nations.

“The USA stands with Israel in rejecting this notion totally,” the State Division added in a press release. “Furthermore, the US refutes each effort to empower UNRWA, a Hamas subsidiary that was complicit within the atrocities of October 7, is devoid of significant oversight, and continues to advertise antisemitism and glorify terrorism. It's unaccountable, corrupt, and may have completely no place in Gaza.”

Along with the Common Meeting vote, the international ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar issued a joint assertion on Friday “affirming the indispensable function of the United Nations Aid and Works Company for Palestine Refugees within the Close to East (UNRWA) in defending the rights of Palestinian refugees and caring for his or her affairs.”

Israeli police and officers cling an Israeli flag on the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem, December 8, 2025. (AP Photograph/Mahmoud Illean) The assertion got here in opposition to the backdrop of an Israeli raid on UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem and reports that the US is trying into designating the UN company as a terror group attributable to its ties to Hamas.

Israel has lengthy sought to shutter UNRWA, saying it perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian battle by persevering with to confer refugee standing on descendants of Arabs who left their properties in what's now Israel in the course of the Battle of Independence from 1947 to 1949.

It ramped up its marketing campaign in opposition to the company after proof confirmed that staff of the company had participated within the October 7 assault and had incited in opposition to it, passing laws final 12 months banning UNRWA from working inside Israeli territory.

Israel has additionally alleged that greater than 10 % of UNRWA’s workers in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions, and that academic services underneath the group’s auspices persistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.

Companies contributed to this report.

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