The House of Representatives on Friday passed an appropriations bill meant to fund the government through Sept. 30. Though the bill, which awaits a vote in the Senate, includes six spending measures for departments like the Homeland Security and the Labor and Health and Human Services and Education, it bans direct federal funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the largest humanitarian organization offering aid to thousands of people in the Gaza war zone.

Palestinian rights groups and supporters of a ceasefire in Gaza have slammed the measure to stop funding UNRWA through at least March 2025.

“This government funding bill would contribute to the forced starvation and death of even more Palestinian refugees in Gaza during a genocide,” according to a call to action by the civil rights network U.S. Campaign For Palestinian Rights. “UNRWA is the only UN agency with the infrastructure to provide aid directly to Palestinians in Gaza.”

UNRWA was created about 75 years ago as a temporary program to provide social services and protection for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. The agency’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in an address to the U.N. General Assembly in early March said UNRWA has continued to operate “pending a just political solution to the question of Palestine.”

According to UNRWA, in the last five months, more children, journalists, medical personnel and U.N. staff have been killed at the strip than anywhere else in the world during a conflict. According to estimates, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7.

Republicans celebrated the bill’s provisions, citing the defunding of UNRWA among “targeted cuts to overfunded non-defense programs” while praising its continued “commitment” to Israel by punishing the United Nations for what lawmakers claim was a “blatant bias against our allies.” The act also eliminates funding for the U.N. Commission of Inquiry against Israel.

The U.S. has historically provided the majority of UNRWA’s funding, but that changed early this year amid claims by Israel of UNRWA staff involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The U.N. has cast doubt on those claims over a lack of evidence.

Nonetheless, 16 countries, including the U.S., put their funding on hold, totalling a loss of $450 million for UNRWA.

“Urgent action is needed,” the nonprofit Americans for Justice in Palestine Action said in a social media post on Thursday. Advocates are calling on the Biden Administration to reinstate full funding to UNRWA, ensure people in Gaza receive humanitarian aid, stop supplying Israel with weapons and demand a complete ceasefire.

This isn’t the first time UNRWA has faced threats to its existence. In 2018, former President Donald Trump cut all U.S. funding to the agency, calling it “irredeemably flawed.” President Biden restored support in 2021 before pausing funding in January. The appropriations bill would extend the pause to next year.

On March 1, several non-governmental organizations signed a letter urging U.N. members to reaffirm support for UNRWA’s work to “help Palestinians survive one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of our times.”

“The suspension of funding by donor states to the main aid provider for millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the region, at a time where famine is looming and disease outbreaks are worsening, will impact life-saving assistance for over two million civilians, half of whom are children, who rely on UNRWA aid in Gaza,” according to the letter.

In addition to the tens of thousands killed, more than 85 percent of Palestinians in Gaza were displaced by the war, with 1 million people sheltering in UNRWA facilities across the region, according to the U.N. Civil rights leaders worry famine may be imminent.

Senate officials are expected to vote on the legislation on Friday to prevent a partial government shutdown over the weekend. Biden said he would sign the bill.

The appropriations bill will provide $9.6 billion to fund ICE, including $5.1 billion for enforcement and removal of migrants, and $3 million more for the body-worn cameras pilot. The legislation sets aside an extra $1 billion for child care and early education programs, which Democrats said was the largest funding item at over $20 billion.

The legislation also funds 22,000 border patrol officers, “the highest level ever funded,” according to Republicans. The bill funds what they said is the largest increase in basic military pay (5.2 percent) in over two decades. It also requires the U.N. and other international aid agencies to report on their efforts to “combat anti-Israel bias and antisemitism” and vet their staff for connections to terrorist groups.