Displaced people with their belongings sit near a roadblock on Salah al-Din Street in Nuseirat in northern Gaza on Saturday —AFP

GAZA/TEL AVIV/ CAIRO

The UN Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, must "cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city" by January 30, Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon  told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a letter on Friday. A law banning the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Israeli land and contact with Israeli authorities takes effect on January. 30.

Despite widespread international opposition, Israeli lawmakers in October passed two bills that essentially bar the UN agency from operating in Israel, and severely curtail its activities in Gaza and the West Bank. Without coordination with Israel, it will be almost impossible for UNRWA to work in Gaza or the West Bank, since Jerusalem would no longer be issuing entrance permits to those territories or allowing coordination with the IDF. Israel also currently controls access to Gaza from Egypt, with Israeli forces deployed along the border between them.

The UN agency has faced criticism from Israel that has escalated since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israel, including claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly assault. Israel alleges that more than 10 per cent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.

In February, the IDF revealed the existence of a subterranean Hamas data center directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza Strip headquarters. The IDF has also repeatedly targeted Hamas command centres and gunmen hiding out in UNRWA schools. UNRWA provides education, health care and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The UN says it is the backbone of humanitarian operations for Palestinians.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said earlier this month that the agency planned to “stay and deliver” services in areas where it can operate.