UN General Assembly passes resolution urging Israel to cooperate With UNRWA despite Hamas ties

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Friday that calls on Israel to cooperate with the UN organization, UNRWA. One hundred and thirty-nine countries backed the resolution while only 12 countries, including Israel and the United States, opposed it.

Bolivia, which recently restored diplomatic ties with Israel, also voted against the resolution. In addition, 19 states abstained during the vote. UNGA resolutions are not legally binding; therefore, the vote is largely symbolic and will not change much on the ground in the Middle East.

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset voted to ban UNRWA’s activities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza due to the agency’s well-documented close ties with the terrorist organization Hamas. Israel provided credible evidence that several UNRWA officials participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 atrocities in southern Israel. Furthermore, UNRWA has promoted jihad against Israel and engaged in antisemitic activity that had largely been ignored by much of the international community.

The Trump administration has reportedly considered imposing sanctions on UNRWA due to its "connections to terrorism," in reference to Hamas. Israeli intelligence estimates that at least 10% of UNRWA’s employees in Gaza are members of Hamas and other terror groups.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon condemned the UN vote and vowed that Israel would not forget UNRWA’s complicity in the Oct. 7 massacre and kidnapping of Israeli civilians.

"We will not forget the crimes committed by UNRWA employees on Oct 7," Danon wrote on 𝕏. "We will not forget that UNRWA employees kidnapped the late Yonatan Samerano to Gaza. UNRWA should hand over the keys and go home."

Samerano is an Israeli national who was murdered on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas kidnapped his remains and only returned them to Israel in June 2025. An investigation conducted by the Washington Post later confirmed that one of the terrorists involved was an UNRWA employee.

In February 2024, Samerano's mother addressed the issue.

“You are asking me why UNRWA needs to be replaced? A UNRWA worker kidnapped my son,” Ayelet Samerano stated, adding, "An UNRWA worker kidnapped my son's body. How can a social worker for an organization that claims to promote good in this world do something so cruel and inhumane?"

Israel vowed in October that it would not allow UNRWA to resume its activities in Gaza due to its terrorist affiliations.

“UNRWA won’t step foot in Gaza”, the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated at the time.

“Israel provided the UN with extensive evidence proving Hamas’ infiltration into UNRWA, but the UN has never investigated the full extent of that infiltration. To this day, UNRWA still employs more than 1,400 Hamas operatives.”