Israel’s parliament has voted to pass legislation banning the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating within Israel and Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, within three months, the BBC reports.
Contact between Unrwa employees and Israeli officials will also be banned, severely limiting the agency’s ability to operate in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Co-operation with the Israeli military – which controls all crossings into Gaza – is essential for Unrwa to transfer aid into the war-torn territory. It is the main UN organisation working on the ground there.
Unrwa staff will no longer have legal immunity within Israel, and the agency’s headquarters in East Jerusalem will be closed.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said implementing the laws “would be detrimental for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for peace and security in the region as a whole”, while Unrwa’s chief Philippe Lazzarini said it “will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians”.
