Israel is encouraged to turn the course of the Palestinian aid Bureau ban

With just two days before Israel Outlaw’s operations on its land of the most important UN assistance agency for Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday took the question at a meeting where the United States was Israel’s only defender.

The Israeli laws are targeted at a 75-year-old agency that has been a backbone in the supply of humanitarian assistance to two million Palestinians in Gaza, as well as a fragile ceasefire grabs. Jerusalem.

On Tuesday, senior UN officials and each member of the Security Council saved the United States called Israel’s actions a violation of its obligations under international law and the UN -Charter. They warned that the restrictions would have a catastrophic impact on assistance and the danger of peace in the long term.

“The legislation makes a mockery of international law and imposes massive restrictions,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of Aid Agency, known as UNRWA. “However, we are determined to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so.”

The Trump Administration’s temporary representative of the UN, Dorothy Shea, rejected the agency’s claims as excessive and called warnings that help will stop “irresponsible and dangerous.” She said the United States supported “Israel’s sovereign decision” to close the aid agency’s offices on its land.

The legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in October also prohibits contact between Israel officials and employees of the Agency, which is formally known as the HE UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Near East.

Israeli officials have accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas militants, the militant group, it has been at war with Gaza since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel. The TWOS pages reached a ceasefire just over a week ago.

UNRWA was formed in the wake of wars around Israel’s establishment in 1948. Its mandate includes providing food, significant help, health care, education, shelter and other services to Palestinians around the Middle East that were displaced by this conflict as well as their descendants.

On Tuesday, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, diplomats, said that Israel’s decision to essentially banned the group was not a political decision, but was instead rooted in national security. He said Israel would cooperate with other UN agencies.

Mr. Danon informed the UN of Israel’s intention to enforce the law in a letter on Friday, he told the council that the legislation aimed at UNRWA would come in full effect on Thursday. He said the agency “must cease its operation and evacuate the premises it operates in Jerusalem.”

In a response to Israel’s letter, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said in a letter on Monday Israel to turn a course that Israel was obliged to facilitate the agency’s work and do not prevent it.

Mr. Guterres said the premises The aid workers have been ordered to leave in East Jerusalem is the UN property protected under international law.

At the same time, he said he took Israeli accusations of ties between UNRWA workers and Hamas very seriously and that he had taken a decisive act to tackle them.

Two UN investigations initiated in response to Israel complained found that fewer than 10 agency staff out of 13,000 were affiliated with Hamas. They were fired. The European Union has said that Israel did not show evidence of its allegations of broad infiltration and resumed donations to the agency.

Mr. Lazzarini on Tuesday described a key role for his Gaza agency since the war began. He said it had delivered two -thirds of all food help, delivered shelter to over a million displaced Palestinians and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio.

Tuesday was not the first time the United States has stood alone in the Security Council in defense of Israel, a close ally. The Biden administration veto against four ceasefire solutions in the Security Council, standing at Israel, who said it was not ready to end the war. Another close American ally, Britain, was among the other 14 council members who spoke against the Israeli law.

“UNRWA’s important work to ensure that Palestinians have access to education and health care must also be protected in Gaza as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” said Britain’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki. “These represent the most basic of human rights.”

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative of the UN, told the council that Israel had long worked to run the agency as part of a strategy to strip refugee status away from displaced Palestinians and thus their right to return to their old countries.

“There is no alternative to the Palestinian government and there is no alternative to UNRWA,” said Mr. Mansour. “Israel does not get elections and chose who represents the Palestinian people or who represents the UN”