Press Releases

(Bethlehem, 07 July 2026)

As the Israeli regime's genocide in Gaza continues, alongside the mass forcible displacement of Palestinians across the West Bank and the systematic destruction of UNRWA's headquarters in Jerusalem and hundreds of its installations. BADIL Resource Center and Global Palestinian Refugee Network categorically reject recent political remarks made by UNRWA Commissioner-General ad interim Chris Saunders at the UNRWA Pledging Conference suggesting that UNRWA's mandate should be subordinated to externally imposed political arrangements, including the so-called "Board of Peace", or that its responsibilities could be transferred to host countries or the Palestinian Authority.

At the very moment that the Israeli regime, with the support of the United States, is pursuing the dismantlement of UNRWA in violation of international law, there can be no accommodation of political projects designed to facilitate its replacement. UNRWA was established by General Assembly Resolution 302 because the international community failed to implement Palestinian refugees' rights under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194. Its mandate therefore remains exclusively under the authority of the General Assembly until those rights—including return, restitution, compensation, and reparation—are fulfilled. It cannot be transferred, conditioned, or terminated through political arrangements.

Against this legal backdrop, the Commissioner-General ad interim's remarks that UNRWA is essential to the Board of Peace’s activities until its services can be transferred to the Palestinian Authority is deeply alarming. Likewise, Article 14 of the New York Declaration, which envisages transferring UNRWA's services to the Palestinian Authority within a two-State framework, unlawfully subordinates the Agency's mandate to a political settlement contrary to Resolution 194. UNRWA was established neither to facilitate state-building nor to administer political transitions, but because Palestinian refugees continue to be denied their internationally protected rights.

The Board of Peace has itself made its objective unmistakably clear:

"UNRWA has no place in the new Gaza. We are turning the page on the complex of perpetual aid dependency and conflict. The people of Gaza deserve better."

This statement removes any ambiguity. The Board of Peace is the institutional vehicle for implementing the so-called GREAT Plan. What began in 2025 as proposals for "Humanitarian Transit Areas" has now evolved into fenced "Humanitarian Shelters"  in Rafah policed by foreign forces –  while the Israeli military consolidates its colonial control over the remainder of Gaza. These proposals are not humanitarian measures but mechanisms for institutionalizing forcible transfer, replacing UNRWA with externally controlled profit-driven “aid”, and transforming refugee rights into systems of containment, surveillance, and permanent displacement.

We call upon the Secretary-General, UNRWA, Member States, and the United Nations system to ensure that UNRWA’s mandate remains under the exclusive authority of the General Assembly, in accordance with international law and General Assembly Resolution 194, and is not subject to political conditionality imposed by any external body, including the BoP:

Invoke the “Uniting for Peace” mechanism

We call upon the PLO, the Arab League, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to invoke the “Uniting for Peace” mechanism by convening an emergency special session of the General Assembly under Resolution 377, in order to recommend collective measures in response to ongoing violations of international law, obstruction of UN operations, and grave breaches of peremptory norms by the Israeli regime.

Article 6 of the UN Charter

We call upon Member States to initiate procedures under Article 6 of the UN Charter concerning the Israeli regime for persistent and grave violations of the Charter, and to ensure the immediate restoration of full, unhindered operational capacity of UNRWA across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV), with guaranteed protection for its facilities, personnel, and humanitarian operations.

Guarantee UNRWA’s mandate and operational access

We call upon member states and civil society to pressure to ensure UNRWA’s unrestricted access to Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory, secure its facilities and personnel, and provide sustained, unconditional funding to enable the Agency to fulfil its mandate under UN General Assembly Resolutions 194 and 302 without political interference.