US defends UNRWA after Israel moves to deem it terror group

The United States on Wednesday criticized an Israeli bill that would declare the UN agency for Palestinian refugees a terrorist organization, saying that such efforts are "incredibly unhelpful."

"UNRWA is not a terrorist organization, and we urge the Israeli government and the Knesset to halt the movement of this legislation," said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

He added that "the attacks that the Israeli government has leveled on UNRWA are incredibly unhelpful. They do nothing to advance the cause of getting humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza."

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, on Monday gave preliminary approval to a bill that designates UNRWA a terrorist organization and proposes severing all ties with the humanitarian agency.

After passing its first reading, the legislation will go to a parliamentary committee for further deliberation.

UNRWA, which has more than 30,000 employees serving some 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in the region, has been accused by Israel of employing "more than 400 terrorists" in the Gaza Strip.

The United States suspended its financial contributions to the agency after separate unproven Israeli allegations were made that some UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas's October 7 attacks.

Since then, US lawmakers have prohibited Washington from releasing funds to the agency.

Several other countries that also withdrew funding for UNRWA have since reinstated their contributions, including Britain, France and the European Union.