OPINION
Following Donald Trump's decision to cut U.S. funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) due to repeated accusations that it was aiding terrorists, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office has announced that the UK’s funding for the agency is now under review. This decision came after it was revealed that British citizen Emily Damari had been held hostage by terrorists in an UNRWA-owned facility. Notably, Trump’s efforts in this particular case may well garner support from much of the Western world, including from countries that previously backed the controversial UN agency. According to Israeli political analyst Zeev Khanin, Trump’s move with regards to UNRWA is — atypically — not an eccentric stunt, but part of a long-term strategy to normalize Israel’s relations with Arab states and end the acute phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The continued existence of UNRWA in its current form is clearly at odds with the priorities of the new U.S. administration. During his election campaign, Donald Trump pledged to reform U.S.-funded international organizations that, in his view, had outlived their purpose.
As expected, UNRWA — a controversial agency accused by Israel of maintaining “mutually beneficial ties” with terrorist groups — was among the first to face scrutiny. Also targeted were the UN Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel insists that UNRWA serves as a tool for perpetuating the narrative of a displaced Palestinian people, and many in the current U.S. administration agree with the Israeli view.
At the start of his first presidential term, Donald Trump called for a review of U.S. funding for UNRWA. Initially, he froze $200 million of the approximately $350 million the U.S. contributed annually to the agency’s budget. Later, he cut funding altogether, citing UNRWA’s unwillingness to implement the structural reforms proposed by the U.S. The rationale behind this move was explained at the time by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who questioned the very definition of “Palestinian refugees” — and, by extension, the legitimacy of their so-called “right of return” to Israeli territory.
According to Israeli authorities, who, as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed during his visit to the Middle East, currently enjoy Washington’s unwavering support, UNRWA has become a key component of the “civilian” infrastructure maintained by Gaza’s terrorist leadership. Institutions under its supervision have repeatedly been found to employ members of terrorist organizations, while its educational programs have been used by Hamas to instill hatred of Israel in new generations of Gaza residents.
UNRWA has become a key component of the “civilian” infrastructure maintained by Gaza’s terrorist leadership
After October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists carried out a massacre in Israeli border communities, taking more than 250 Israelis and foreigners to Gaza as hostages, new evidence emerged of terrorists using UN infrastructure.
As part of Operation Iron Swords, launched in response to Hamas’s aggression, Israel Defense Forces units uncovered further proof that numerous clinics, schools, community centers, and other educational, social, and cultural institutions operating under UNRWA’s supervision had been used as cover for the underground infrastructure of local terrorist groups.
Command centers, communications hubs, firing positions, weapons and ammunition depots, training and staging areas for militants, and tunnel access points were frequently located inside — or, more commonly, beneath — UNRWA facilities. Among them were sites at which Israeli hostages, abducted by terrorists on October 7, were held in dire conditions. According to The Wall Street Journal, at least 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza employees — 1,200 out of 12,000 — are affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Terrorists' command centers and ammunition depots were frequently located inside or, more commonly, beneath UNRWA facilities
UNRWA’s leadership strongly denied these accusations against its employees. UN Secretary-General António Guterres took a similar stance, assigning nearly equal blame to both Israel and Hamas — a position that led to his being declared persona non grata in Israel.
When Israel published evidence of individual UNRWA staff members participating in the October 7 terrorist attack, or when reports surfaced of agency employees simultaneously working for the UN and engaging in Hamas’s military activities, UNRWA officials dismissed these as “isolated, atypical cases,” an approach that did little to build trust.
Israel revealed that an UNRWA employee ID card was found by IDF soldiers on the body of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, whom they had eliminated. Meanwhile, Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital arrested in Gaza, was, according to Israeli military officials, also a colonel in Hamas’s military wing.
Revelations of the most outrageous cases occasionally led the Biden administration and some other Western governments to temporarily suspend UNRWA funding “pending investigation.” However, funding was eventually restored. After the Knesset passed a law in October 2024 banning UNRWA’s operations in Israel — including in East Jerusalem, where the agency’s headquarters was located — most European countries firmly opposed the Israelis’ decision.
The immediate outcome was two nearly identical UN General Assembly resolutions. On Dec. 11, 2024, delegations from 159 countries supported a declaration titled “On the Ceasefire in Gaza and Support for UNRWA.” Nine days later, another resolution, initiated by Norway, called for the repeal of the Knesset-approved law that severed Israel’s ties with UNRWA and banned its operations in the Jewish state. This resolution was backed by 137 nations, with 12 voting against and 22 abstaining.
However, only a month later, the situation began to shift. One indicator of this change was a letter sent on Jan. 14, 2025, by 30 members of the European Parliament from 14 EU member states — including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands — to UN Secretary-General Guterres. Citing testimony from hostages who had survived captivity, the letter alleged that captives had been held in UNRWA facilities and demanded that the agency be removed from the list of official UN organizations. According to the signatories, by engaging in what they described as “politically, morally, and legally reprehensible” cooperation with terrorists, certain UNRWA employees had violated the UN mandate.
Another notable example was Sweden, a country that regularly criticizes Israel’s policies. After suspending UNRWA funding in response to the January 2024 scandal over the agency’s ties to Hamas, Stockholm resumed payments just two months later. However, on Dec. 20, 2024, Sweden decided to permanently halt direct financial transfers to UNRWA, pledging instead to find alternative ways to assist Gaza’s residents.
It is evident that these decisions were largely influenced by the policies of the newly re-elected U.S. President Donald Trump. He appears to be in full agreement with those who, like the authors of Israel’s official notification to UN General Assembly President Philemon Yang regarding the termination of the 1967 cooperation agreement with UNRWA, see the agency as “part of the problem in Gaza rather than part of the solution.”
With a new team in place, Trump wasted no time in resuming his unfinished Middle East agenda. The Palestinian issue may now serve as a tool for the U.S. president to reshape Middle Eastern geopolitics in line with his vision of America’s strategic interests in the region and beyond.
A key component of this policy is the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Washington’s allies — Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such an agreement would serve as the logical conclusion of the Abraham Accords, the process of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi-aligned Arab nations, which Trump initiated in 2020. It would also contribute to structuring a U.S.-led anti-Iranian alliance — a “Middle Eastern NATO” — the progress of which stalled following the outbreak of military operations in Gaza.
For Trump, establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia is a key priority
Riyadh is considering this prospect, but obstacles remain. The Saudis have made it clear that they are not ready for an open and formal rapprochement with Israel — despite long-standing unofficial cooperation — until the “Palestinian issue” is resolved through the creation of a Palestinian state. Given Hamas's recent statements about its willingness to cede authority to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, led by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), on the condition that at least some of its old administrative cadres remain in the civil administration, a compromise appears increasingly likely.
However, this poses a problem for Israel — more precisely, for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Over the past year and a half, he has been trying to repair his political reputation, which suffered significantly after the October 7 terrorist attack. One way he seems to be pursuing this goal is by shifting public attention away from the consequences of the war in Gaza to the risks of establishing a Palestinian state, which, according to his narrative, would constitute an “existential threat to Israel” if it were fully realized.
Netanyahu may attempt to shift Israelis' focus from the consequences of the war in Gaza to the risks of establishing a Palestinian state
Many in Israel share this concern. However, for Netanyahu, it is essential to convince the public that only he can prevent such an outcome. This makes it extremely difficult — if not impossible — for him to accept even a “scaled-down” version of Palestinian statehood, one akin to what he cautiously outlined in his 2009 Bar-Ilan speech.
As a result, the White House and the U.S. State Department will need to make considerable efforts to bring Israel and Saudi Arabia to a compromise on the Palestinian statehood issue. A deal remains possible, particularly as Donald Trump remains intent on swiftly finalizing the normalization process between the two countries, paving the way for them to take charge of regional security. With that accomplished — and a coveted Nobel Peace Prize potentially in hand — he could then shift his focus to what he considers more pressing domestic and global challenges.