UNRWA funding emerges as sticking point as lawmakers work to avoid partial government shutdown

As lawmakers work to finalize the text of the next round of government spending bills, a dispute over funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is threatening to derail negotiations.

The United States and more than a dozen other countries suspended funding for the main U.N. agency for Palestinians after Israel accused some of the agency’s employees in Gaza of participating in the Oct. 7 attack in which Hamas murdered some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 253. 

The agency has faced scrutiny in the aftermath of the attack after a U.N. Watch report found that staffers “immediately celebrated and justified” the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks that ignited the current war. There have also been broader concerns about the curriculum being taught in UNRWA-run schools as it relates to Jews and Israel.

The agency fired 12 of its employees in January after receiving evidence that they participated in the Oct. 7 attack, but Israel has since offered more intelligence, showing hundreds more have ties to Hamas. 

A supplemental funding bill in the Senate that passed last month included a provision that would block UNRWA from receiving funds if it becomes law. Republicans in both chambers want to keep these restrictions in place as part of the State and Foreign Operations portion of the next package of funding bills. 

“Not only is the United Nations Relief Agency on the side of Hamas, frankly so is the United Nations, and I’m beginning to wonder why we contributed any money at all to the United Nations,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who admitted the funding is a point of contention.

However, Democrats oppose an indefinite ban on funding to UNRWA, and instead are seeking to set conditions on aid. The agency operates in five locations where there are Palestinian refugees: Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, and Jordan. 

“In Jordan, UNRWA provides shelter, health care, education, and sanitation for two and a half million Palestinians who live in 10 different camps,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), another member of the Appropriations Committee. “I am arguing for separating out, I would like to see a conditional review of UNRWA Gaza and a continuation of funding for the rest of them.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) pointed out that Jordan’s King Abdullah recently emphasized that no other agency can help the people of Gaza through this humanitarian disaster.

“King Abdullah has persuasively made the case that UNRWA Jordan is not UNRWA Gaza and blocking funding for refugee camps, especially in the southern border, could collapse the stability of the country and therefore the regions, so we are playing with fire here,” he said.

The bipartisan supplemental foreign aid bill, which passed in the Senate, still has $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Palestinians, but that bill faces an uncertain future in the House after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has refused to bring it up for a vote.

Republicans continue to push back against additional funding requests for the agency after it already spent the $370 million the U.S. provided in 2023. 

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“UNRWA is a front, plain and simple,” said Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability. “It masquerades as a relief organization while building the infrastructure to support Hamas.”

How lawmakers intend to settle this dispute is unclear as they are racing to fund dozens of agencies before programs expire on March 22.

Emily Jacobs contributed to this report.