JERUSALEM 鈥� Israeli lawmakers passed two laws Monday that could threaten the work of the main U.N. agency providing aid to people in Gaza by barring it from operating on Israeli soil, severing ties with it and labeling it a terror organization.
The laws, which do not immediately go into effect, signal a new low for a long-troubled relationship between Israel and the U.N. Israel's international allies said they were deeply worried about their potential impact on Palestinians as the war's humanitarian toll worsens.
Under the first law, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, would be banned from conducting "any activity" or providing any service inside Israel. The second law would sever Israel's diplomatic ties with the agency.
The laws risk collapsing the already fragile process for distributing aid in Gaza at a moment when Israel is under increased U.S. pressure to ramp up aid. UNRWA's chief called them "a dangerous precedent."
Israel claims some of UNRWA's thousands of staff members participated in the Hamas attacks last year that sparked the war in Gaza. It also says hundreds of UNRWA staff have militant ties and that it found Hamas military assets in or under the agency's facilities.
The agency fired nine employees after an investigation but denied it knowingly aids armed groups and said it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants from its ranks. Some of Israel's allegations prompted major international donors to cut funding to the agency, though some of it has been restored.
Israel has at times during the war raided or attacked UNRWA schools or other facilities, claiming militants operated there. UNRWA says that more than 200 of its employees have been killed during the war.
"The law that we passed now is not just another bill. It is a call for justice and a wake up call," said lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, who co-sponsored one of the bills. "UNRWA is not an aid agency for refugees. It is an aid agency for Hamas."
The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said the new laws were part of an "ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA."
"These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza," he said on social media.
The first vote passed 92-10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mostly members of Arab parliamentary parties. The second law was approved 87-9.
Together, the laws would effectively sever ties with the U.N. agency, strip it of legal immunities and restrict its ability to support Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. The legislation does not include provisions for alternative organizations to oversee its work.
Allies of Israel oppose the move
The changes could be a serious blow to Palestinians in Gaza. More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes, and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
International aid groups and a handful of Israel's Western allies, including the U.S., voiced opposition.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, speaking to reporters in Washington before the votes, said the administration was "deeply concerned" by the legislation. "There's nobody that can replace them right now in the middle of the crisis," he said.
UNRWA provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The laws would go into effect 60 to 90 days after Israel's Foreign Ministry notifies the U.N., according to the spokesperson of lawmaker Dan Illouz, one of the co-sponsors of one of the laws.
Death toll surpasses 43,000
With no end in sight to the war, officials in Gaza reported Monday that the death toll from the yearlong fighting surpassed 43,000. The Palestinian Health Ministry's count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but it says more than half of the dead are women and children.
The rising death toll comes as Israel refocuses its offensive on Gaza's hard-hit north, including on a hospital where the military claims militants operated from.
Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Friday. The military said Monday the raid ended.
Israel has raided several hospitals in Gaza over the course of the yearlong war, claiming Hamas and other militants use them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny those allegations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.
The Israeli military said it detained 100 suspected Hamas militants in the latest raid. The Israeli official said medical staff were detained and searched because some of the militants disguised themselves as medics.
The World Health Organization accused Israel of detaining 44 male hospital staff. It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy in the figures. Palestinian medical officials said the hospital, which was treating some 200 patients, was heavily damaged in the raid.
The Israel-Hamas war began after militants from Hamas and other groups stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people 鈥� mostly civilians 鈥� and abducting 250 others. The war roiled the Middle East, setting off fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as well as between Israel and Iran, archenemies who long kept their conflict a shadow war but are now engaging in open fighting.