Israel told the United Nations on Friday that its aid agency known as URWA, which is important for the lives of a million Palestinians in the 15 months of the war in Gaza, had six days to stop all activities in East Jerusalem.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General, “Revali is required to stop its operations in Jerusalem and remove all buildings where it operates from the city, by 2025.”
This letter was Israel’s first official notification to the UN about how it planned to legalize Israel’s territory with the help of Expolla, officially known as the Palestinian Territory in the Near East. The measure also prohibits Israeli officials from interacting with UNRA officials and staff.
The move came after months of tension between the Israeli government and the UN agency, which provides food, shelter, health care, job training and education in the West Bank and Gaza, especially after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, an attack on Israel that puts the war. The organization also provides for Palestinians living in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where they have introduced Palestinians to the establishment for decades.
Israel has accused the disproportionate influence of Hamas members. But the two investigations found that fewer than 10 of the nearly 13,000 workers were affiliated with the Palestinian armed group, and were shot.
Two hundred and sixty-nine UNRWA workers were killed in Gaza – the heaviest loss of UN staff in any conflict, officials said.
Mr.
Asked for comments, Farhan Haq, UN spokesman, referring to previous statements by Mr. 47,000 people, according to Gazan officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The spokesman for Uratwa also referred requests for comments to the Office of Mr.
Mr Turrers told a UN Security Council meeting earlier this week on the situation in Gaza, “firstly, the international community – including at the core of our humanitarian response,
Philipte Lazyarini, Philippe Lazzarini, also asked the Council last week to intervene to stop Israel from enforcing the constitution that removes his agency. He said such actions would “significantly reduce the international response” to Gaza and “worse the dire living conditions.”
Before the letter was sent, Mr. Lazzarlini told reporters last Friday that his agency had not received any confirmation from Israel on how the measures would be implemented. He also said that he expects Ingawa to continue his work, that he will have major challenges entering the West Bank and Gaza, and that his work in Jerusalem will be put on hold.
In the letter, Israel requested that the UNLA release the two sites of Maalot Dafna and Kfar Aqueb in the neighborhood of East Jerusalem, which are considered by international law to be part of the West Bank and under occupation. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be part of Israel.
UNGLWA was founded in 1949 to help Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the Arab-Israeli War.
The agency has full support among UN members, and they are urging the Israelis not to block the agency’s work. After Israel accused Hamas of taking over the organization, the bidding authorities cut millions in annual funding, and the conference in March banned funding for the organization for a year.
During his first term as President, Donald J. Trump defunded URWAYWA in 2018, and is expected to continue withholding the funds.
Mr Trump’s pick to be US ambassador to the UN, Representative Elise Stefanik, slammed the aid agency as “antisemitic” in her Senate hearing this week.
That position conflicts with the UN’s position that the West Bank remains Palestinian territory.
Mr. Lazzarini said in a post on X on Friday that preventing malfunctions in the operation “may be attacked” and eliminated by the people of Gaza, “say and be honest with the people who are facing indescribable suffering.”
He said, in the first three days of the truce, Ingawa brought food to one million people in Gaza and had already taken it to nearly 3,000 people in northern Gaza, where the UN and aid organizations have warned that people were on the brink of starvation.
“UNRWA’s work must continue in Gaza + across the Palestinian territory,” said Mr. Lazzarini.
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