New York (UNA/WAFA) – The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, announced on Tuesday that the country will cut all ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and any body acting on its behalf, and demands that it “cease its activity and evacuate all its facilities in Jerusalem within 48 hours.”
Danon's statements came before a meeting of the UN Security Council regarding the occupation government's adoption of a law recently ratified by the Knesset, "ending the legal presence of UNRWA in Israel" and coming into effect on January 30.
Danon said, “The law prevents UNRWA from operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, and also prohibits any contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA.”"He added that "Israel will end all cooperation and communication with UNRWA or any party acting on its behalf."
UNRWA plays a vital role in providing health care and education to Palestinian refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and has provided 60% of the food supplies brought into Gaza since the outbreak of the Israeli war of extermination on the Strip on October 7, 2023..
In his briefing to the Security Council, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that full implementation of the Israeli Knesset legislation on the agency would be “catastrophic,” warning that reducing UNRWA operations outside a political process, and at a time when confidence in the international community is extremely low, would undermine the ceasefire in Gaza..
“The Agency is essential to support the devastated population and to bring about a ceasefire,” Lazzarini stressed. “However, in two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be disrupted, as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset comes into effect.”".
He warned that the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire and the prospects for a political solution that would bring lasting peace and security are at stake..
“Undermining UNRWA’s operations in Gaza would jeopardize the international humanitarian response. It would also degrade the UN’s capacity at a time when humanitarian assistance needs to be significantly increased. This would exacerbate the already catastrophic living conditions of millions of Palestinians,” he explained.".
The UNRWA Commissioner-General said that ending the agency's operations in the occupied West Bank "would deprive Palestinian refugees of education and health care."".
He added that in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli government ordered UNRWA to evacuate its buildings and cease operations by Thursday, “which would affect approximately 70 patients and more than XNUMX students.”".
He pointed out that the legislation passed by the Knesset defies the resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, ignores the rulings of the International Court of Justice, and ignores the fact that UNRWA is the mechanism established by the General Assembly to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees, pending a political response to the Palestine issue..
“The implementation of this legislation makes a mockery of international law and imposes enormous restrictions on UNRWA’s operations,” Lazzarini said. “We are determined to remain and provide services until it becomes impossible to do so, without endangering our Palestinian colleagues, who face an exceptionally hostile working environment fueled in part by a vicious disinformation campaign.”.
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