Why attacking UNRWA is attacking Gaza’s survival
Palestinian children gather in the yard of the UNRWA Deir el-Balah Joint School, west of Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, on 6 December 2025
Sam Rose writes in Al Jazeera on 31 January 2026:
The January 14 announcement of the new Palestinian technical committee to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction comes at a critical moment. While states are discussing the governance and reconstruction of Gaza, on the ground, the basic survival of 2.1 million people hangs by a thread. This moment demands immediate action to lift the ongoing and suffocating restrictions that are systematically dismantling the very means for Palestinians to survive.
Famine conditions in Gaza have moderately stabilised, but the humanitarian catastrophe continues to deepen. Families remain displaced without adequate shelter; children still go to bed hungry; and basic healthcare is out of reach for hundreds of thousands.
Winter rains have turned displacement camps into seas of mud, exacerbating suffering and significantly increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. Daily Israeli air attacks and bombardments continue, with more than 500 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire agreement was announced in October. This month alone, seven UNRWA school compounds in eastern Gaza have been demolished by Israeli forces.
UNRWA remains Gaza’s largest and most comprehensive service provider, effectively acting as the public sector for more than half the population. Our 11,000 staff continue to operate despite immense risks, as they have done each day since October 7, 2023.
They are providing healthcare to almost 100,000 people each week and education to 70,000 children in damaged school premises across Gaza. Our schools also shelter tens of thousands of displaced families.
UNRWA teams essentially function like a local municipality; we distribute water and collect solid waste from entire communities, covering the needs of more than half the population. When we speak of “service delivery”, these are not abstract programmes. We are talking about the clinics where children are vaccinated, the classrooms where traumatised boys and girls find some collective care, and the distribution points where families are provided with basic sustenance.
Yet our ability to respond remains severely impeded by systematic barriers. What should we understand from the entire and complete assault on the most basic services needed for any community to survive?
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This brings us to the uncomfortable truth: These restrictions are not merely bureaucratic impediments. They appear to be part of ongoing efforts to systematically dismantle the means for Palestinians to survive. Every restriction, every obstacle, every denial of basic materials adds another layer of evidence to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). So too do the attacks on the one United Nations agency – UNRWA – that is able to provide basic education and healthcare at scale, but is prevented from doing so.