Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) since 1967, the country's foreign ministry said on Monday.
The organization has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza © Mena Today
Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main U.N. relief organization for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) since 1967, the country's foreign ministry said on Monday.
Last month, the Israeli parliament passed legislation banning UNRWA from operating in Israel and stopping Israeli authorities from cooperating with the organization, which provides aid and education services to millions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, set up in the wake of the 1948 war that broke out at the time of the creation of the state of Israel, accusing it of anti-Israel bias and saying it perpetuates the conflict by maintaining Palestinians in a permanent refugee status.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October last year, it has also said that the organization has been deeply infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza, accusing some of its staff of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The legislation has alarmed the United Nations and some of Israel's Western allies who fear it will further worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants for a year. The ban does not refer to operations in the Palestinian territories or elsewhere.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement that despite the overwhelming evidence "we submitted to the U.N. highlighting how Hamas infiltrated UNRWA, the U.N. did nothing to address this reality".
The legislation does not directly outlaw UNRWA's operations in the West Bank and Gaza, both considered by international law to be outside the state of Israel but under Israeli occupation.
But it will severely impact its ability to work in those areas and there has been deep alarm among aid groups and many of Israel's partners.
The Israeli foreign ministry said activity by other international organizations would be expanded and "preparations will be made to end the connection with UNRWA and to boost alternatives to UNRWA".
Reporting by Muhammad Al Gebaly and Nilutpal Timsina
Sheikh Rafeh Halabi, a senior figure in Israel’s Druze community who presents himself as dean of the descendants of the Prophet (Naqib al-Ashraf) for Jerusalem and president of the Jerusalem branch of an international human-rights organization, has sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump calling for immediate American action to halt what he describes as the starvation and extermination of Druze in Syria’s Sweida province.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that the government does not plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza, after two Israeli ministers this month floated proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from the coastal territory.
Israel will open its first embassy in Slovenia on Wednesday in a sign of warming relations after populist Janez Jansa formed a centre-right government following elections in March.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.