UNRWA officials brief congressional staffers on opposing terrorist designation

SPECIAL: UNRWA officials appealed to congressional staffers to counter the Trump administration’s possible move to designate the U.N. agency as a foreign terrorist organization and discussed UNRWA’s ongoing operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including cash-based assistance, at a Dec. 17 briefing, Fox News Digital has learned.

The video conference was organized by UNRWA USA, an American non-profit organization that supports the agency through advocacy and fundraising. UNRWA USA Executive Director Mara Kronenfeld opened the briefing by saying that the aim was to make clear that UNRWA was “still on the ground” in Gaza and the West Bank, despite what she called “the insidious efforts of the Netanyahu government to systematically prevent UNRWA from continuing its life-saving humanitarian work.”

Briefers during the meeting also raised reports that the U.S. government was considering designating UNRWA as a foreign terrorist organization and discussed with congressional offices what steps could be taken to “help prevent this and support UNRWA in its critical work,” according to meeting details reviewed by Fox News Digital.

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Bill Deere, UNRWA’s director in Washington, said “media reports appear to be accurate” that the administration is considering designating a foreign terrorist organization to run the agency.

“It is unprecedented for a UN agency to consider this. It is absolutely unwarranted,” Deere said, adding that “four separate independent investigations” had disproved Israel’s claims regarding UNRWA’s workforce.

Deere called on congressional offices to respond forcefully.

“You can voice your displeasure loudly,” Deere said, arguing that the consequences would go beyond UNRWA and set a precedent that would affect the broader UN system.

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A truck bearing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) logo crosses from Gaza into Egypt at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, November 27, 2023. (Amr Abdullah Dalsh/Reuters)

“If they go ahead and do that, we have limited recourse on that,” he said, adding that one step that could be taken is “Congress could overrule the appointment.”

At the meeting, UNRWA field leadership described conditions and operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Sam Rose, UNRWA’s director of affairs in Gaza, told participants that due to Israeli Knesset legislation, international staff did not enter Gaza and operations were managed remotely.

Rose stated that despite the allegations that UNRWA was blocked, the agency’s services in Gaza did not stop even for a day, pointing out basic health services, education, water and sanitation works, shelter operations and the use of UNRWA facilities as emergency shelters.

Rose also described the agency’s ability to run programs that don’t rely on emergency supplies deliveries.

“Cash assistance and job creation programs can also continue,” he said, adding, “we can operate on a large scale.”

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United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Gaza, June 2023. (Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Introduced as director of UNRWA affairs in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich described UNRWA’s scale in the region, including education, health and aid programs. He said UNRWA provides support to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, including aid “which may also be cash assistance”, among other forms such as food vouchers and social protection payments.

Friedrich also described “cash-for-rent” assistance to displaced people and argued that UNRWA’s presence has played a stabilizing role in many countries in the region.

Officials also discussed workarounds that would allow UNRWA to continue operating under restrictions.

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Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), held a press conference in Jerusalem on October 27, 2023. (Mustafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Rose described indirect involvement through UN channels, noting that UNRWA was still able to receive fuel and that certain coordination occurred through third parties. He said the fuel can power electric generators and water pumps and stressed the importance of keeping essential services running.

Regarding aid flows, Rose said Israel reported the number of trucks reaching 600 per day and that he had no reason to doubt the overall count. At the same time, he argued that the mix of goods entering has changed, with commercial supplies playing a larger role and some humanitarian supplies remaining limited for UN agencies. He described what the UN calls a two-tier system in which some items whose use is blocked can enter through special channels.

Beyond the operational discussion, the briefing also included open advocacy for congressional offices.

Kronenfeld urged attendees at the meeting to support legislation described as the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2025 and thanked offices that have already supported efforts to restore U.S. funding, describing the United States as historically UNRWA’s largest donor ahead of the 2024 funding cut.

UNRWA USA did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital. UNRWA also did not respond.

William Deere, Director of UNRWA Mission in Washington, DC, released the following statement in response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment:

“UNRWA participates in briefings hosted by the UNRWA U.S. National Committee and attended by bicameral groups of think tanks and non-governmental organizations, as well as Republican and Democratic staff from Capitol Hill. Such briefings are important opportunities for the Agency to respond to the Israeli government’s ongoing disinformation campaign, which suggests that UNRWA is no longer actively working in Gaza. The opposite is true. UNRWA staff provide critical services in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, every day. UNRWA recently joined the U.S. “In a letter to the Government Accountability Office, he thanked President Trump for ceasefire negotiations that allowed the world to return to the future of Gaza.”

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Palestinians protest against the reduction of food aid to refugees outside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza City, June 20, 2023. (Majdi Fathi/TPS)

Deere added: “In Gaza, UNRWA medical staff provide 40 percent of essential health services and play a critical role in distributing water, supporting public health through vaccination campaigns, pest control, nutritional screenings and solid waste disposal. UNRWA is also leading on Gaza education, accelerating its ‘return to learning’ programme, with almost 70,000 children now accessing the Agency’s face-to-face learning activities. West Bank, including East Jerusalem “Especially given the various laws approved by the Israeli Knesset, policymakers are always interested in hearing first-hand about the impact of these laws from our experts.”