The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was born out of one of the most turbulent periods in modern history. Established by the United Nations in 1949 in the aftermath of the cataclysmic 1948 War and the establishment of the State of Israel, UNRWA was tasked with addressing the dire needs of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been made stateless refugees, whether outside Palestine or inside it, including in Jerusalem and its environs (see The West Side Story and The Legal and Institutional Complexities of What It Means to Be a Palestine Refugee).
Today, some 5.9 million Palestinian refugees are eligible for UNRWA services, provided by a workforce of over 30,000 employees throughout the Middle East.1
Brief History
UNRWA was established by UN member states in 1949 and began operations on May 1, 1950.2 At its inception, the agency was conceived as a temporary measure for humanitarian assistance and protection of Palestinian refugees, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight.3 Initially, UNRWA focused on providing basic necessities like food, shelter, and medical care. Over time, its responsibilities expanded to include education, social services, infrastructure, microfinance, and emergency aid to millions of refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza.4
In its early years, UNRWA established makeshift camps to provide temporary housing for refugees that soon became permanent due to the lack of a political resolution. It also launched agricultural projects, built clinics, and prioritized education, creating one of the region’s largest school systems. By the 1950s, UNRWA schools were educating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, and vocational training centers were introduced to equip refugees with skills for employment. This school system is responsible today for the education of over half a million children, while two million individuals receive primary health care from UNRWA.5 Its model primary care system is based on a Family Health Team approach, whereby one health team treats one entire family consistently and over the full human life cycle. This includes care from pregnancy through aging, with an emphasis on preventive and systemic care.6
The demand for UNRWA’s services increased following the 1967 War and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank (including what was now called East Jerusalem), which further displaced hundreds of thousands more Palestinians, exacerbating the refugee crisis. In the 1980s and 1990s, UNRWA adapted to the challenges posed by the First Intifada and other conflicts in the region that have affected Palestinian refugees, such as the Lebanese Civil War in the mid-1970s and the Gulf War in the early 1990s.
In the 2000s, UNRWA played a crucial role in mitigating the humanitarian consequences of the Second Intifada (2000–2005), during which intensified Israeli military actions and movement restrictions severely impacted Palestinian refugees. The agency expanded its emergency relief programs to assist the affected communities. Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007, after which UNRWA became the primary deliverer of essential services for a population under siege, with clinics across that territory.
Current Crisis
UNRWA is currently facing one of the most severe crises in its history. Israeli-coordinated political attacks on the agency threaten its ability to operate. Beginning in October 2023, Israel waged a genocidal war on Gaza and another on UNRWA, accusing it of ties to terrorism and repeatedly calling for its closure. Between October 7, 2023, and September 26, 2024, 222 UNRWA staff were killed in Gaza and more than two-thirds of UNRWA buildings were damaged or destroyed.7
In May 2024, Israeli extremists attacked and set fire to UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem, forcing its temporary closure.8 Later that year, Israel announced plans to confiscate the land on which UNRWA’s headquarters was located to build illegal settlement units, ordering the agency to vacate its premises and halt all operations in East Jerusalem.9
Israel’s fierce campaign also included the adoption of two laws in October, banning UNRWA from operating in Israeli-controlled areas and imposing a “no contact” ban on Israelis speaking to UNRWA personnel, leading to the forced vacating and shutting of its headquarters in East Jerusalem.10
By early 2025, Israel had escalated its measures by revoking the permits of UNRWA’s international staff, effectively expelling them from the country.11 Israel has also intensified efforts to lobby Western donors to cut funding to the agency based on the same allegations of ties to Hamas. While many donors initially suspended their contributions, most have since resumed funding, as Israel has failed to provide conclusive evidence for its claims.12 According to the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, “The true purpose of these efforts is to strip Palestinians from their refugee status, thereby unilaterally changing the parameters for a future political solution.”13
Despite these challenges, UNRWA continues to operate, maintaining essential services for millions of Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA’s Work in Jerusalem
This Photo Album takes a look back at UNRWA’s decades of work in Jerusalem and its environs, where many Palestinian refugees from 1948 and 1967 reside. A good number of those are refugees from West Jerusalem and the areas of Palestine declared as Israel in 1948 whom Zionist forces drove out, denationalized, and prohibited from returning, even though those refugees lived only a few kilometers away from their original homes, villages, and towns (see The West Side Story).
For decades, UNRWA has operated key facilities in East Jerusalem, focusing on health, education, and social services. Many of these services were concentrated in Shu‘fat refugee camp (est. 1965), the only camp that came to be fully inside the Jerusalem municipal boundaries after Israel illegally expanded the city boundaries in 1967. Despite being under Jerusalem’s municipal jurisdiction, the Shu‘fat camp relies on UNRWA, since the municipality does not provide services there. In the camp, UNRWA runs three schools (two for girls and one for boys, serving 622 students),14 a primary health-care center established in 1964, and sanitation services—functions not provided by the municipality. Aside from Shu‘fat, UNRWA today operates three additional schools in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem—Wadi al-Joz, Silwan, and Sur Bahir—serving about 250 students, as well as the Kalandia Training Centre, which serves over 350 trainees. Several of these institutions were recently raided by Israeli authorities in an attempt to forcibly close them, but at this time they remain open.15
UNRWA has also supported Augusta Victoria Hospital, providing cash assistance, and run community programs, including women’s empowerment, youth activities, and aid for vulnerable families.
According to UNRWA officials, the agency educated 750 children in East Jerusalem and facilitated 80,000 annual health consultations for 70,000 vulnerable individuals.16
Meanwhile, Hamza al-Jibrini, director of UNRWA’s medical center in Jerusalem’s Old City, says his facility alone serves 30,000 refugees who will be directly impacted by the ban.17
Beyond the city in the larger Jerusalem governorate (Muhafazat al-Quds), UNRWA also runs Qalandiya and Aida refugee camps, both of which sit within and outside of the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, straddling different areas. The Qalandiya camp has four schools, a health center, a distribution center, and a training center located just outside the camp.18 The Aida camp has two schools, one just outside the camp, and a health center.
In some camps, UNRWA also provides relief and social services, including cash assistance to needy families, and infrastructure and camp improvement, including sanitation and sewage management.
For the Palestinians of Jerusalem, as these photos indicate, UNRWA has been a bedrock of support in an otherwise extremely volatile and hostile landscape. From its earliest days providing tents and basic supplies across makeshift camps to its current multifaceted programs, UNRWA has buttressed the welfare, dignity, and human development of four generations of Palestinian refugees.