Gaza War and Humanitarian Aid

UNRWA and its U.S. fundraising arm held a Dec. 17 video briefing for congressional staff in which officials urged them to oppose a potential Trump administration move to designate the U.N. Relief and Works Agency as a foreign terrorist organization and discussed possible steps Congress could take to override such a designation. Bill Deere, UNRWA’s Washington director, told staffers that "press reports appear to be true" that the administration is considering the unprecedented step, called it "certainly unwarranted," and warned it would set a precedent affecting the broader U.N. system. Briefers, including UNRWA USA head Mara Kronenfeld, framed the threat as part of what they called the Netanyahu government’s attempt to shut down UNRWA’s "life‑saving" work, and Sam Rose, the agency’s Gaza affairs director, emphasized that UNRWA has maintained daily services in Gaza, including primary health care, shelter and cash assistance and job‑creation programs, even as international staff are barred by Israeli legislation. The outreach comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly denounces UNRWA as effectively a Hamas subsidiary and vows it will not play any role in U.S.-backed aid to Gaza, underscoring a serious split between U.S. political leadership and a U.N. agency that has long been central to Palestinian relief. If the administration proceeds with a terrorist designation, it would be the first time Washington has applied that label to a U.N. body and could force a fundamental reworking of U.S. aid channels and relations with the U.N. system.