The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees must cease operations and vacate all facilities in Jerusalem by January 30, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Friday, confirming a deadline set by Israeli law. controversial.
Despite international concerns, Israeli lawmakers passed a law banning the agency from operating in Israel and East Jerusalem, part of the city annexed by Israel after the 1994 Six-Day War. 1967.
The agency has faced increasing criticism from Israel since the war began, including allegations that dozens of its 13,000 staff in Gaza were involved in a deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ambassador Danny Danon said: “UNRWA is requested to cease its operations in Jerusalem and evacuate all facilities it operates in the city by January 30, 2025, at the latest.”
UNRWA is seen as the backbone of humanitarian operations for the Palestinians.
The organization provides aid to some six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
While East Jerusalem has long been the agency’s administrative center, it also runs schools and health clinics in the area.
Israel has also passed laws banning contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA, but its parliament does not technically prohibit the agency from operating in Gaza or the West Bank.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned that suspending the agency’s operations “could undermine the ceasefire in Gaza, once again dashing the hopes of those who have suffered unspeakable suffering.”
“UNRWA’s work must continue in Gaza + throughout the entire occupied Palestinian territory,” he said on social media platform X on Friday evening.
