For more than seven decades, UNRWA has stood as the institutional memory of Palestinian displacement — running schools, delivering medicine, and holding open the legal question of return. Now the Board of Peace, a body created by the United States to shepherd Gaza's reconstruction, has publicly severed ties with the agency, drawing accusations from Hamas that the decision reflects not neutrality but alignment with those who have long sought UNRWA's dissolution. The move arrives as winter approaches a besieged population, and as the gap between the Board's public declarations and its private ne
Hamas condemns Board of Peace for excluding UNRWA from Gaza operations
Seven Palestinians killed across Gaza Strip in past 48 hours; Israeli forces conducted raids in West Bank including at Birzeit University during student examinations.
Plans will not keep the people of Gaza warm this winter
Mark
Why does Hamas care so much about UNRWA specifically? It's one agency among many.
Mimi
UNRWA isn't just an aid organization to Palestinians. It's the custodian of their refugee status and their legal claim to return home. If UNRWA disappears, that claim weakens in the eyes of international law.
Luke
But we should be careful here—the source says Palestinians *see* it that way, which is true. But whether UNRWA's existence actually preserves that legal right is a separate question, and the reporting doesn't settle it.
Mark
The Board says UNRWA fails their "litmus tests." What does that mean in practice?
Mimi
They're saying UNRWA can't be trusted to help build a "deradicalized" Gaza—that's their language. But it's vague. They don't specify what UNRWA did wrong or what would need to change.
Luke
Right. And the AP found that Board officials are actually meeting with UNRWA behind the scenes. So the public position and the private one don't match. That's worth noting, but it also means we don't know what the real policy is yet.
Mark
Lazzarini says the Board is failing. Is he credible, or is he just defending his old agency?
Mimi
He's the former chief, so yes, he has a stake in UNRWA's survival. But his specific claim—that Israel is still blocking aid—that's something we can check against other reporting.
Luke
The source doesn't give us independent verification of that claim. We have Lazzarini saying it, but not confirmation from other sources about the current state of aid crossings. That's a gap.
Mark
Seven Palestinians killed in 48 hours—is that a lot, or is it the baseline now?
Mimi
The reporting doesn't give us historical context, so we can't say if that's an increase or a continuation of the pattern. But it shows the violence hasn't stopped despite the ceasefire agreement.
Luke
Exactly. The ceasefire exists, but people are still dying. That's the real story underneath the Board of Peace dispute.
O Pulso
- Hamas has condemned the Board of Peace's exclusion of UNRWA as a deliberate act to erase Palestinian humanitarian infrastructure and extinguish the internationally recognized right of return.
- The Board insists it will only partner with agencies that pass its 'deradicalization' standards — yet behind closed doors, its officials have been meeting with UNRWA repeatedly, with one acknowledging the agency's programs could continue if effective.
- Former UNRWA chief Lazzarini has turned sharply critical, warning that the Board's 'grandiose plans' are no substitute for open border crossings and winter supplies for a population already under siege.
- Seven Palestinians were killed across Gaza in 48 hours, with drone strikes hitting Nuseirat and Khan Younis, artillery shelling Khan Younis's eastern edges, and a quadcopter wounding civilians including a child on Salah al-Din Street.
- In the West Bank, Israeli forces raided Birzeit University while students sat final exams, arrested residents in Tulkarem, and sealed village entrances in Bethlehem — tightening pressure across the occupied territory simultaneously.
For more than seven decades, UNRWA has stood as the institutional memory of Palestinian displacement — running schools, delivering medicine, and holding open the legal question of return. Now the Board of Peace, a body created by the United States to shepherd Gaza's reconstruction, has publicly severed ties with the agency, drawing accusations from Hamas that the decision reflects not neutrality but alignment with those who have long sought UNRWA's dissolution. The move arrives as winter approaches a besieged population, and as the gap between the Board's public declarations and its private negotiations raises deeper questions about who reconstruction is truly meant to serve.
Hamas has accused the Board of Peace of taking Israel's side by announcing it will not work with UNRWA in Gaza's reconstruction or aid delivery. Spokesperson Hazem Qassem called the decision a 'complete alignment with the Zionist position,' arguing it was designed to shut down the agency that has served Palestinian refugees since 1949 — and with it, the Palestinian claim to a right of return that Israel has long sought to extinguish.
The Board justified its stance by saying it would only partner with agencies that meet its standards for trust and 'deradicalization.' Qassem found the logic hollow: the Board had itself failed to deliver meaningful aid or hold Israel to the ceasefire, yet was moving against the one institution with decades of operational presence on the ground. UNRWA runs schools, provides medical care, and remains central to Palestinian identity in ways that go far beyond logistics.
The public posture, however, masked a more complicated reality. The Associated Press reported that Board officials had been meeting with UNRWA multiple times in private, with one official conceding the agency's programs could continue if they served Gaza's residents — before adding that 'UNRWA's days are over.' Philippe Lazzarini, who led the agency until earlier this year, noted that members of the Palestinian technocratic committee the Board itself appointed actually wanted to work with UNRWA, widening the distance between official rhetoric and operational reality.
Lazzarini grew openly critical. He accused the Board of failing its mandate while Israel continued blocking aid crossings — part of what he described as a deliberate effort to make Gaza uninhabitable. 'Grandiose plans is what the Board of Peace does best,' he wrote. 'Plans however will not keep the people of Gaza warm this winter.'
Meanwhile, the violence continued. Seven Palestinians were killed across Gaza in 48 hours. Drone strikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp and Khan Younis, artillery shelled the city's eastern outskirts, and a quadcopter wounded three people including a girl on Salah al-Din Street. In the West Bank, Israeli forces raided Birzeit University during student examinations, arrested residents in Tulkarem, sealed village entrances in Bethlehem, and conducted operations across multiple refugee camps. The question of whether the Board's private flexibility will ever surface publicly remains open — but its official stance has already defined the terms of what reconstruction, and exclusion, will look like.
Hamas has accused the Board of Peace of siding with Israel by refusing to include the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East—UNRWA—in its operations across Gaza. The organization, created by the United States, announced on Friday that it would not work with UNRWA and that the agency would play no role in Gaza's reconstruction and aid delivery. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem responded on Saturday, calling the decision a "complete alignment with the Zionist position" and arguing that it was designed to shut down UNRWA's work, cut off humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, and eliminate what Palestinians view as their fundamental right to return to their homeland.
The Board of Peace justified its stance by saying it would only partner with "trusted partners who will deliver for the people of Gaza and contribute to a deradicalized Strip," and claimed that UNRWA did not meet those standards. Qassem found this reasoning contradictory. He pointed out that the Board itself had failed to provide meaningful aid to Gaza or to pressure Israel to honor the ceasefire agreement, yet it was taking a hostile position toward an agency that has been delivering services to Palestinian refugees since 1949. UNRWA has long been central to Palestinian identity and survival—it runs schools, provides medical care, and preserves what Palestinians call their right of return, a claim that Israel has consistently opposed and sought to undermine by pushing for the agency's dissolution.
Behind closed doors, however, the picture was more complicated. The Associated Press reported that Board of Peace officials had been meeting with UNRWA representatives multiple times, despite their public rejection of the agency. One Board official, speaking anonymously, acknowledged that UNRWA's programs could continue if they served Gaza's residents effectively, but added bluntly that "UNRWA's days are over." Philippe Lazzarini, who led UNRWA until earlier this year, told the AP that members of the Palestinian technocratic committee appointed by the Board to govern Gaza actually wanted to work with the agency. The gap between private conversations and public statements suggested a more nuanced reality than the Board's official rhetoric allowed.
Lazzarini himself became a vocal critic of the Board's approach. On Thursday, he accused the organization of failing to deliver on its mandate and pointed to Israel's continued blockade of basic supplies into Gaza, which he characterized as part of a deliberate strategy to make the territory uninhabitable for Palestinians. "Grandiose plans is what the Board of Peace does best," he wrote on social media. "Plans however will not keep the people of Gaza warm this winter." He called for the opening of border crossings and the large-scale delivery of humanitarian goods.
On the ground in Gaza, the violence continued unabated. The Ministry of Health reported that Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians across the Strip over the previous 48 hours, including one person who died from wounds sustained earlier. In northern Gaza, an Israeli drone strike near Joulis Street and al-Nouri Tower in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed one person and wounded others. In Khan Younis, another drone strike in al-Mawasi wounded several Palestinians, including a child. Israeli artillery also shelled areas east of the city, and an Israeli quadcopter fired on Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, wounding three people, including another girl.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces conducted raids across multiple locations. They stormed Birzeit University in Ramallah while students were sitting final examinations, raiding one of the university's buildings. In Tulkarem, forces arrested resident Bashar Odeh after searching his home in Shuweika and interrogated others during raids in Zeita. In Bethlehem, Israeli forces closed military gates at village entrances, preventing residents and pedestrians from moving freely. Raids also continued in the Qalandiya and Am'ari refugee camps and other localities across the West Bank.
The exclusion of UNRWA from the Board of Peace's operations comes at a moment when Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis that will intensify as winter approaches. The agency has been the primary lifeline for Palestinian refugees for more than seven decades, and its removal from official reconstruction efforts signals a fundamental shift in how aid and governance will be managed in the territory. Whether the Board's private willingness to work with UNRWA will translate into actual collaboration remains unclear, but the public stance has already sent a message about the direction of post-conflict planning.
Citações Notáveis
UNRWA's involvement in Gaza is unchanged. We will only work with trusted partners who will deliver for the people of Gaza and contribute to a deradicalized Strip.— Board of Peace statement on X
Grandiose plans is what the Board of Peace does best. Plans however will not keep the people of Gaza warm this winter.— Philippe Lazzarini, former UNRWA chief
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