An EU court has ruled that stateless Palestinians can more easily obtain refugee protection in the European Union if it finds that the main aid agency in the Gaza Strip cannot provide a minimum level of security and humane living conditions.
The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerned the asylum grounds for refugees from Gaza and the status of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which operates in the war-torn area.
Until now, stateless Palestinians in the EU are not entitled to protection if they already benefit from UNRWA assistance and are registered with the organization.
Thursday’s ruling stemmed from a case in Bulgaria. In 2018, a mother and her minor daughter from Gaza applied for asylum in Bulgaria. They argued that UNRWA no longer offered them protection and that they should therefore be recognized as refugees. Bulgaria has asked the Court of Justice to intervene.
The judgment of the Luxembourg court states that the benchmark now is whether the Palestinian aid organization can offer Gazans decent living conditions and a minimum level of security.
If UNRWA cannot do that, the court said, stateless Palestinians can be recognized as refugees in the EU.
The Bulgarian court must now decide the individual case.
However, the ECJ noted that “both living conditions in the Gaza Strip and UNRWA’s ability to fulfill its mission have suffered an unprecedented deterioration as a result of the consequences of the events of 7 October 2023.”
Hamas and other Palestinian extremist groups massacred about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, prompting an Israeli air and ground assault on Gaza. Hamas-controlled health authorities say more than 37,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far.
