
A Palestinian woman walks past a damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
A long-awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas to end the 15-month Israeli war on Gaza is due to take effect this weekend.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Thursday that legislation barring UNRWA from operating in Israel and east Jerusalem due to be implemented by the end of January threatened the agreement.
"What we don't want is this peace, that begins on Sunday, undermined by that legislation just a few days into its passing," he told parliament on Thursday.
The chair of the UK parliament's International Development Committee echoed his call on Friday.
"While news of a ceasefire is encouraging, the situation on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank remains alarming," said Sarah Champion, from the ruling Labour party.
"Israel's proposed ban on UNRWA would prevent aid distribution in Gaza, devastate Palestinian livelihoods and send disruptive ripples throughout the Middle East."
Her comments came as her committee published a report urging the British government to "do all it can" to ensure UNRWA is able to continue its work.
The report concluded that if UNRWA were banned it would almost certainly lead to further conflict and displacement.
UNRWA provides aid to some six million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas offensive on 7 October 2023 and has used these allegations as a pretext to ban the organization.
A series of probes, including one led by France's former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality related issues" at UNRWA but concluded that Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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