The Israeli Knesset has approved in its first reading a bill aimed at prohibiting the provision of electricity and water to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), according to reports.
The bill passed the first reading with 28 votes in favour and eight votes against on Wednesday.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said that the bill stipulates that water and electricity providers will not supply any property registered under UNRWA as the consumer.
The bill also grants Israel the authority to control lands registered with the Israel Land Authority that are used by UNRWA.
The bill is an amendment to two previous bills passed in October of 2024, according to the Times of Israel, which bars the agency from operating in Israel.
Crackdown on aid
The move marks Israel's latest escalation in its efforts to block aid from Palestinians in both besieged Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that some UNRWA staff are working for the resistance group Hamas.
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated those baseless claims. The UN, however, rejected those claims.
According to UNRWA, Israel has killed at least 381 UNRWA staff members since the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023.
Israel has killed almost 70,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in its carnage in Gaza since October 2023.
It has reduced most of the blockaded enclave to ruins and practically displaced all of its population.
