Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UNRWA, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the ban, due to come into effect on Thursday, would “heighten instability and deepen despair in the occupied Palestinian territory at a critical moment”.
He said the move would also impede efforts to rebuild and recover the region’s region after more than 15 months of war, erode international cooperation, and put in jeopardize peace and security prospects.
The United States, a key Israel ally, supported the “sovereign decision” made by Israel to shutter UNRWA and cut all contact with it.
Dorothy Shae, Washington’s envoy to the Security Council meeting, said the agency delivering aid to millions is “exaggerating” the potential impact of the Israeli ban – which experts and UN officials have said would likely be catastrophic.
The largest humanitarian aid network operated by UNRWA is the one that serves the Palestinian refugee populations in the Middle East, as well as the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Additionally, it manages schools turned shelters in Gaza, which have been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli military, and collaborates with a number of other organizations.
Israel had promised to stop communicating with UNRWA within 48 hours, impose a ban on dealing with Israeli officials, and impose the organization’s closure of its offices in areas under Israeli control.
In accordance with the earlier this month-ending Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, the agency has been instrumental in delivering aid to Gaza. In exchange for Palestinian prisoners who had been imprisoned in Israeli custody, the agreement has resulted in the release of several Israeli prisoners held by armed organizations in Gaza.
In accordance with the agreement, Israel has set up some military checkpoints in the area to allow displaced Palestinians from southern Gaza to return to their homes in the north of the Strip.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Salah al-Din Street, the main thoroughfare connecting southern Gaza with the north, claiming the journey was exhausting and overwhelming.
He claimed that when people returned to assess the damage to their homes in the north reported finding nothing but remnants of their previous lives.
“They’ve rebuilt what they lost,” they said. Many of them have resurrected their makeshift shelters close to the ruined homes.
Source: Aljazeera
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