UNRWA announces plans to open permanent office in Turkey

United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Phillipe Lazzarini announced on Thursday in Ankara that the agency seeks a permanent presence in Turkey and intends to open an office there in the near future.

“We have signed the final agreement with the government of Turkey and this time it has been also endorsed by the parliament,” Lazzarini told media representatives in the Turkish capital. He assessed that it was “a question of weeks” before UNRWA formally opened its office in Turkey.

However, unlike all other refugee agencies, UNRWA stands out by uniquely passing on the refugee status from one generation to the next. Critics have therefore argued that UNRWA is perpetuating rather than solving the conflict. UNRWA has also, for years, been hit by numerous scandals involving antisemitism and anti-Israel terrorism incitement.

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset voted to ban UNRWA from operating in Gaza, Judea and Samaria due to the involvement of UNRWA employees with the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel, initiated by the Hamas terrorist organization.

Israeli officials estimate that at least 10% of UNRWA workers in Gaza are members of Hamas or other terrorist organizations. In February 2024, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed a list of 12 UNRWA workers who had participated in the massacre and kidnapping of Israelis during the Oct. 7 attack.

However, a few months later, a panel largely whitewashed the UNRWA scandal, claiming that Israel had failed to provide evidence that UNRWA employees participated in the atrocities.

Instead, UNRWA has presented itself as a “victim” of the Israeli government.

“There is a desire by the government of Israel to dismantle UNRWA, to make sure that the agency has no future role in Gaza and possibly in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Lazzarini stated.

UNRWA’s decision to open an office in Turkey is likely not coincidental. The Turkish government, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, maintains close ties with Hamas, which is deeply embedded in UNRWA.

Last month, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution calling on Israel to cooperate with UNRWA despite allegations of ties to Hamas and involvement in the October 7 attacks. As UNGA resolutions are not legally binding, the measure was largely symbolic.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon dismissed the resolution and vowed that Israel would hold UNRWA accountable for its affiliation with Hamas.

"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,” he added, referring to an Israeli man who was murdered in the Oct. 7 attack and kidnapped into Gaza by UNRWA employees.

In 2024, Ayelet Samerano addressed UNRWA’s involvement in the kidnapping of Yonatan, saying: "A 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?"