Israel Orders UNRWA Shutdown in Jerusalem

Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, announced on Tuesday that the Israeli government will sever all ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Danon demanded the agency cease operations and vacate all its facilities in Jerusalem within 48 hours.

UNRWA plays a critical role in providing healthcare and education in the occupied Palestinian territories. Since the outbreak of the genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, the agency has supplied 60% of the food entering the besieged strip.

Danon’s statement came ahead of a UN Security Council meeting discussing Israel’s recent legislation to end UNRWA’s legal presence in Palestine. The law, passed by the Knesset, takes effect on January 30.

“The law prohibits UNRWA from operating within Israel’s sovereign borders and bans any communication between Israeli officials and the agency,” Danon said. He emphasized that Israel will terminate all cooperation and communication with UNRWA or any entity representing it.

Danon also informed Security Council members that Israel will stop collaborating with UNRWA within 48 hours. He insisted the agency must halt its activities and evacuate its facilities in occupied Jerusalem.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini addressed the Security Council, warning that the ongoing attacks on the agency harm the lives and futures of Palestinians across the occupied territories. “This undermines their trust in the international community and jeopardizes any prospects for peace and security,” he said.

Lazzarini highlighted that 650,000 Palestinian students in Gaza have been out of school for nearly two years. He stressed the urgent need for UNRWA to continue supporting them.

Ahead of the law taking effect, Danon told reporters, “Israel will halt all ties with UNRWA and anyone acting on its behalf as of January 30.” He clarified that the decision was not made lightly or hastily, calling it a “necessary” move rather than a political one according to the Quds News Network.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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The Qassam Brigades handed over to the Red Cross, Thursday, the captive soldier Agam Berger, from the rubble of Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of the third batch of prisoner exchange according to the ceasefire agreement. Meanwhile, the Al-Quds Brigades handed over the two prisoners it is holding, Arbel Yehud and Gadi Moses, to the Red Cross with their handover from in front of destroyed house of the late Yahya Sinwar’s in Khan Yunis.

The Qassam Brigades released the captive soldier Berger from Al-Razan Square in Jabalia camp, which witnessed major Israeli bombing and destruction as part of the bloody military operation launched by the occupation army, during which a large number of Israeli soldiers were killed and wounded.

The Israeli army announced it received soldier Agam Berger, saying she had arrived at the initial reception point in the so-called Gaza envelope and met with her family members.

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Hamas confirmed that “the large gathering of the masses of our Palestinian people in the two prisoner handover operations in the city of Khan Yunis and the Jabalia camp, amidst the rubble left by the Zionist fascism in the two areas, is a message of determination, strength and defiance that it raises in the face of this barbaric occupier, meaning that our people will remain on their land, and are determined to achieve their project of liberation, return and self-determination.”

The movement said in a press statement received by Quds Press, Thursday: “The Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian resistance prove once again their high ability to control the scene through organized handover operations that have dazzled the world, and after humiliating the criminal enemy army in the sands of Gaza.”

It pointed out “what happened today confirms the unity of the Qassam Brigades, the Al-Quds Brigades and the resistance forces in the field and in managing the exchange operation that took place in front of the house of the martyr leader Abu Ibrahim.”

It stressed “the diversity of the implementation of the release operations of Israeli prisoners from different areas of the Strip, in the steadfast Jabalia, in Khan Yunis and in front of the house of the martyr leader Yahya Sinwar, is a message to the world that our people will remain on their land, will continue the resistance, and are determined to liberate and return.”

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