By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency prepared Wednesday to cease all operations in East Jerusalem after Israel ordered it to vacate its premises there.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) considers East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank, also known as Judaea and Samaria, and Gaza as occupied. However, the Israeli government considers all of Jerusalem to be part of the Jewish nation and its “eternal capital.”
Israel has had a tense relationship with the UNRWA after revelations that at least nine of its employees were involved in the Hamas-led rapes and massacre of some 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israeli lawmakers in October passed a law banning UNRWA from the country and also prohibiting Israel’s authorities from having contact with the agency, although exceptions can be made.
Yet it took the Israeli government till Sunday to order the UNRWA to end its operations in areas it considers part of the country.
At UNRWA’s offices in East Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood workers were seen packing boxes and loading portable buildings onto a truck.
DECISION CRITICIZED
Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for UNRWA, stressed, “It’s an unacceptable decision.”
“The people that we serve … we are not able to tell them what is going to happen to our services as of the end of this week,” Fowler added.
U.N. officials fear “tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem” will lose education, healthcare, and other services provided by the UNRWA when Israel’s ban on the agency takes effect Thursday.
The ban also alarms some of Israel’s Western allies, who fear it could further “worsen” the already “dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza after 15 months of war.
The ban does not refer to operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Yet, observers say the restrictions on Israeli authorities’ contact with the agency will likely impact operations there.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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