Israel attacked UNRWA to eliminate problem of “8 million Palestinian refugees”

PLO Department of Refugee Affairs Director Anwar Hammam: "[Israel] targeted UNRWA: … UNRWA [represents] international society's responsibility for the refugee problem. The international community is the one that has left the refugee issue unresolved for 76 years. It has a moral, legal, and political responsibility towards these refugees… UNRWA represents this responsibility and international recognition. Israel wants to break and undermine the legal foundations of this responsibility. Israel thinks it can... harm the status of the Palestinian refugee by redefining the Palestinian refugee... The authorized definition for a Palestinian refugee is UNRWA's definition: A Palestinian refugee is someone who lost [his] home and source of livelihood in 1948 – him and his descendants... Israel wants to redefine the Palestinian refugee as someone who was expelled only in 1948, and not his descendants. Hence, there is an attempt to marginalize the refugee problem, since those who remain alive of the refugees are a few thousand, and their problem can be resolved either through family reunification or resettlement, and [therefore] there is no need for an agency that will provide all these services to the refugee community…  It is not possible – morally, legally, politically, and historically – that there will be such a simple solution to eliminate the dreams of over 8 million Palestinian refugees scattered around the world."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 14, 2025]