Palestinians gather outside of a health clinic run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem. AP
Israeli legislation severing ties with the agency came into force on Thursday, a move likely to hamper its vital humanitarian services to Palestinians after 15 months of Israeli war on Gaza.
With little evidence, Israel has alleged that several UNRWA employees have links to Hamas and has used this as a pretext to ban the organization from operating inside Israel while also forbidding contact between it and Israeli officials.
But Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said: "UNRWA clinics across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are open. Meanwhile, the humanitarian operations in Gaza continues, including with UNRWA work there."
UNRWA has provided support for Palestinian refugees around the Middle East for more than 70 years, but has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly targeted the organization for providing refugee status to Palestinians.
After the law came into effect, the Norwegian government said Thursday it would contribute $24 million to the agency.
"Gaza is in ruins, and UNRWA's help is more necessary than ever," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said.
'Blatant violation'
Turkey condemned the Israeli move as "a blatant violation of international law", and said it "marks a new phase in Israel's policies of occupation and annexation aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from their own land".
The agency's offices and staff in Israel play a major role in the provision of healthcare and education to Palestinians, including those living in Gaza, which has been devastated by the deadliest Israeli assault on Gaza.
On Wednesday, Israel's supreme court rejected a petition by Palestinian human rights group Adalah contesting the ban, but noted the legislation only forbade UNRWA operations on "the sovereign territory of the State of Israel", not in Gaza and the West Bank.
The ban does apply, however, to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, where UNRWA has a field headquarters for its operations in the West Bank.
In response, Adalah said the law would come into effect "disregarding the catastrophic humanitarian consequences".
'Irreplaceable'
The move, which has been backed by Israel's main supporter the United States, has drawn condemnation from aid groups and US allies.
The agency says it has brought in 60 percent of the food aid that has reached Gaza since the Israeli war on the strip started on October 2023.
Israeli envoy to the United Nations Danny Danon told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that UNRWA must cease its operations and evacuate all premises it operates in annexed east Jerusalem on Thursday.
In response, UN chief Antonio Guterres demanded that Israel rescind its order.
"I regret this decision and request that the government of Israel retract it," he said, stressing UNRWA was "irreplaceable".
The agency's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said UNRWA's capacity to distribute aid "far exceeds that of any other entity".
He called Israel's actions against UNRWA a "relentless assault... harming the lives and future of Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory".
Israel alleges a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas 2023 offensive, but a series of investigations, including one led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA, but stressed Israel had not provided evidence for its headline allegation.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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