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full screen Unrwa emergency aid trucks queue to cross the border between Egypt and Gaza. Picture taken on January 19. Photo: Amr Nabil/AP/TT
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, must end its operations in Jerusalem by January 30. Israel demands it.
The demand is made in a letter written by Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon, in which he also once again accuses UNRWA of being “infiltrated” by the terror-labeled Hamas.
“Unrwa must cease its operations in Jerusalem and evacuate all premises where it operates in the city by January 30, 2025,” the letter states.
The letter is a follow-up to the decision made by the Israeli Knesset parliament in October, in which Unrwa was banned from operating on Israeli soil and with Israeli authorities.
For almost a year now, Israel has accused employees of UNRWA of having connections with terrorist-branded Hamas. The UN has investigated the allegations and concluded that nine staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The nine have been dismissed.
“Preventing UNRWA from operating could sabotage the ceasefire in Gaza,” writes UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini on X.
He does not specifically mention Jerusalem, but writes that during the first three days of the ceasefire, the UN agency has brought in food for a million people in Gaza.
“UNRWA’s work must continue in Gaza plus around the occupied Palestinian territories,” he writes.