United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

The primary UN agency providing services to Palestinian refugees, currently delivering 40% of primary healthcare in Gaza and serving nearly 300,000 children through education programs. - Operations restricted by Israeli legislation since January 2026

A severe winter storm killed at least 8 Palestinians in Gaza on January 13, 2026, collapsing war-damaged walls onto tent camps and freezing children to death overnight. The dead include a 7-day-old infant, a 1-year-old boy, and a 4-year-old girl who died of hypothermia—the latest in at least 23 cold-weather deaths since winter began. Over 1.1 million people remain in urgent need of shelter assistance as 81% of Gaza's structures have been destroyed or damaged.

Updated Jan 16

UN agency providing education, healthcare, and humanitarian services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees. - Banned from operating in Israeli territory as of January 30, 2025

Israel banned 25 major aid groups—including Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and CARE International—from Gaza starting January 1, 2026. The organizations refused to hand over lists of their Palestinian staff, citing security fears and European data laws. Israel said they failed vetting for activities that "delegitimize" the state, a term aid workers say has no clear definition. Ten countries—including the UK, France, Canada, and Japan—issued a joint statement calling the restrictions "unacceptable."

Updated Dec 30, 2025

The UN’s refugee agency for Palestinians, now at the center of a showdown over UN authority in Jerusalem. - Target of Israeli legal, political and physical pressure; just had its mandate renewed to 2029

Israeli police and municipal officials rolled into a quiet UN compound in East Jerusalem before dawn. Motorbikes, trucks and forklifts smashed through UNRWA’s former headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah, seizing equipment, cutting communications and hauling down the UN flag to raise Israel’s own. UN officials say it was an unauthorized raid on inviolable UN premises; Israeli authorities insist it was just a municipal debt-collection move.

Updated Dec 11, 2025