AP / January 26, 2025
JERUSALEM — The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says its staff was directed to vacate the premises by Thursday.
Israel passed legislation last year cutting all ties with the agency and barring it from operating in its territory. It says the agency, which is the main provider of aid in the Gaza Strip, has allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas, allegations denied by the U.N.
In a statement Sunday, the agency, known as UNRWA, said the order to vacate “is in contradiction to international law obligations of U.N. member states,” including Israel. “United Nations premises are inviolable and enjoy privileges and immunities under the United Nations Charter.”
UNRWA closed its east Jerusalem headquarters last May after Israeli protesters set fire to its perimeter.
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UNRWA warns of far-reaching consequences if Israel goes ahead with its closure
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says that if Israel carries out its threat to close its east Jerusalem headquarters on Thursday, the outsize effects will be felt acutely and immediately by tens of thousands of Palestinians.
The agency, known as UNRWA, runs 12 facilities that provide critical public services across east Jerusalem, including schools enrolling at least 1,200 children and free clinics serving over 70,000 people.
“That’s the thing, it has an impact on people’s lives,” Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said of the potential closure.
In the Shuafat refugee camp, an impoverished neighbourhood, “people today can walk just a few meters and they’re in an excellent clinic,” Touma said. But if it’s shuttered, she said, tens of thousands of Palestinians would have to cross a difficult checkpoint, pay for transport and, even if they’re eligible for Israeli primary health care, also pay for medicine in order to see a doctor or get a blood test.
“We’re talking about the poorest of the poor,” Touma said. “Right now, they have no alternative.”
The closure of UNRWA schools would raise all sorts of problems given that there are already too few classrooms in the overcrowded Palestinian areas of east Jerusalem, she said.
