Israel’s UN ambassador affirmed timeframes outlined in contentious Israeli legislation on Friday, stating that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees must cease operations and vacate all of its facilities in Jerusalem by January 30.
Israeli parliamentarians have passed legislation that prohibits UNRWA from working in Israel and east Jerusalem, the area of the city that Israel occupied after the 1967 Six Day War, in defiance of international concern.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Israel has increasingly criticised the agency, claiming that 12 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
“UNRWA is required to cease its operations in Jerusalem and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city, no later than 30 January 2025,” Ambassador Danny Danon wrote in a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres.
For Palestinians, UNRWA is seen as the foundation of humanitarian efforts.
About six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria get assistance from it.
The agency operates schools and medical facilities in the area, but East Jerusalem has long served as its administrative centre.
Even though Israel’s parliament has approved a bill that forbids communication between Israeli officials and UNRWA, the organisation is still able to operate in Gaza and the West Bank.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA chief warned that preventing the agency from operating “might sabotage the Gaza ceasefire, failing once again hopes of people who have gone through unspeakable suffering.”
“The work of UNRWA must continue in Gaza + across the occupied Palestinian territory,” he said on social media platform X late Friday.