Senior officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have held advanced internal discussions about imposing terrorism-related sanctions on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), according to two sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

UNRWA operates in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, running schools, clinics, food distribution centers, and emergency shelters. UN leaders have repeatedly called the agency the “backbone” of the humanitarian response in Gaza.

But Israel and the Trump administration accuse UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas. Israel has presented evidence that a number of UNRWA employees participated in or assisted the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, guarded hostages, and worked in schools that glorified terrorism and rejected Israel’s legitimacy. UNRWA denies institutional ties to Hamas and says any wrongdoing was carried out by individuals.

The U.S. cut off all UNRWA funding in January 2024 after the allegations surfaced. Since then, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has escalated the administration’s rhetoric, calling the agency “a subsidiary of Hamas.”

Inside the administration, officials have weighed multiple sanctioning pathways, including the possibility of designating UNRWA as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) — a move that would effectively paralyze its operations worldwide and criminalize financial support. It remains unclear whether the FTO option is still under consideration or whether sanctions would target specific UNRWA officials instead of the agency as a whole.

State Department officials have warned privately that sanctioning UNRWA could collapse refugee assistance across the region, destabilize Jordan and Lebanon, and leave Gaza without essential food, medical care, or schooling. The agency is already in a severe funding crisis after the U.S. withdrawal.

The administration has not yet made a final decision.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)