US diplomacy strongly criticized yesterday Wednesday a draft law being promoted in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, which calls the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, a “terrorist organization”.

“UNRWA is not a terrorist organization and we urge the Israeli government and the Knesset to stop advancing this bill,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

The Israeli government’s continued “attacks against UNRWA are incredibly futile. They contribute nothing (…) to the distribution of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza,” he added, insisting that Washington continues to support the agency’s work.

Israel’s parliament on Monday approved in first reading a proposed law that would label the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East a “terrorist organization” and cut all ties with it. The text will be examined more thoroughly at committee level.

UNRWA, which employs more than 30,000 people across the region, serving 5.9 million Palestinians, has been accused by Israeli authorities of employing “more than 400 terrorists” in the Gaza Strip. Israel alleged that 12 service members were involved in the October 7 attack.

For its part, the US suspended its financial contribution to the agency after accusations — for which no evidence was ever presented — by Israel that its employees were involved in the attack by Hamas’s military arm.

US law prohibits Washington from unfreezing funds for the agency. However, instead the governments of many other countries have since resumed supporting UNRWA, including Britain at the start of the week. Germany, Sweden, France, the European Union as a whole and Japan have done the same.