EU warns Israel's Gaza UN aid ban could threaten trade deal

The European Council President warned on Thursday that Israel's decision to ban the key UN aid agency for Gaza could result in the annulment of a deal establishing Israeli trade relations with Brussels.

Israel passed a law on Monday banning the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from operating in the country, raising concerns about its ability to provide relief in Gaza after over a year of war between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants.

"The decision made by parliament in Israel, if implemented, to ban UNRWA in Israel is absolutely not acceptable and I cannot imagine that there would be no consequences on the EU side," Charles Michel told reporters in Geneva.

"I can observe that more and more voices, including at the political level, the highest political level of the EU, are considering that the time will come to put on the table the Association Agreement between Israel and the EU," he said.

Ireland has previously called for a review of the deal on human rights grounds, which are cited in the terms of its provisions.

The deal, which entered into force in 2000, provides the legal basis for trade between the two parties. An EU website showed that the EU is Israel's biggest trade partner, accounting for 28.8% of its trade in goods in 2022, while Israel is the EU’s 25th biggest trade partner.