TNA Staff
The New Arab / January 30, 2026
Israel’s top court has again postponed a hearing on laws targeting UNRWA, leaving the agency exposed to property seizures and utility cuts.
The Israeli Supreme Court has postponed for a second time a key hearing on laws targeting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), rejecting an urgent request to halt measures that allow the seizure of the agency’s property and the cutting of essential utilities to its facilities.
In a decision issued on Thursday, the court dismissed an emergency injunction request submitted by Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, against the implementation of amended legislation passed in December 2025.
The law has enabled Israeli authorities to confiscate UNRWA property and sever water, electricity and telecommunications services, particularly in East Jerusalem.
The court said there was no justification for interim relief on procedural grounds and cancelled the 2 February hearing, ordering Adalah and its co-petitioners to submit an updated petition by 18 February.
The ruling leaves UNRWA’s infrastructure and operations without legal protection, effectively allowing the continued demolition of parts of the agency’s East Jerusalem headquarters and the ongoing disconnection of essential services.
The case was brought by Adalah on behalf of Palestinian refugee families, alongside Gisha, the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.
The petition challenges a series of Israeli laws adopted since October 2024, including controversial legislation that nullified Israel’s cooperation agreement with UNRWA, ordered the cessation of its operations in areas under Israeli control, including annexed East Jerusalem, and banned all state contact with the agency.
The legal assault has intensified since a December 2025 amendment explicitly authorised property seizures and utility cuts.
Israeli forces have since raided and begun demolishing sections of UNRWA’s East Jerusalem compound, while moving to disconnect its facilities from basic services.
The developments come amid growing international concern over Israel’s campaign against UNRWA, which remains a critical provider of services to Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
In the West Bank alone, the agency operates dozens of schools and health centres and is one of the largest employers after the Palestinian Authority.
Speaking to The New Arab’s Arabic language edition on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations would continue to do “everything possible” to ensure UNRWA can carry out its mandate, despite mounting pressure and restrictions imposed by Israel.
He said the UN was demanding accountability for the killing of at least 380 UNRWA staff members and had taken “very clear positions of condemnation” regarding Israeli actions against the agency’s buildings, in line with rulings by the International Court of Justice.
Guterres stressed that UNRWA’s work remains indispensable, warning that undermining the agency risks further destabilising the occupied Palestinian territories and worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.
He added that the UN opposed any actions that would erode the two-state solution, including settlement expansion, demolitions and attacks on international humanitarian institutions.
In December 2025, the UN General Assembly voted by a large majority to renew the agency’s mandate until 2029 and adopted an ICJ advisory opinion affirming Israel’s obligation, as an occupying power, to facilitate UNRWA’s relief operations rather than obstruct them.
Adalah has said the Israeli court’s decision effectively greenlights continued attacks on a UN body protected under international law, warning that the legislation violates the fundamental rights of Palestinian refugees to education, healthcare, dignity and property.
The Supreme Court is expected to reconsider the case once the amended petition is filed later this month.
