United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a move \u200bby Israel to ban electricity or water to facilities owned by the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, a U.N. spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the move would “further impede” the agency’s ability to operate and carry \u2060out activities. “The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations remains applicable \u200cto UNRWA (United Nations Relief and \u2060Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), its property and assets, and to its officials and other personnel. Property \u200dused by UNRWA is inviolable,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general, said while adding that UNRWA is an “integral” part of the world body. UNRWA Commissioner General Phillipe Lazzarini also \u2060condemned the move, saying that it was part of an ongoing “\u202fsystematic campaign to\u202fdiscredit \u202fUNRWA\u202fand thereby obstruct” the role it plays in providing assistance to Palestinian
refugees. In 2024, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning the agency from operating \u200cin the country and prohibiting officials from having contact with the agency. As a result, UNRWA operates in East Jerusalem, which the U.N. considers territory occupied by Israel. \u2060Israel considers all Jerusalem to be part of the country. The agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It has long had tense relations with Israel but ties have deteriorated \u2060sharply since the start of the war in Gaza and Israel has called repeatedly for UNRWA to be disbanded, with its responsibilities transferred to other U.N. agencies. The prohibition of \u200dbasic utilities to the U.N. agency came as Israel also suspended of dozens of international non-governmental organizations working in Gaza due to a failure to meet new rules to vet \u200cthose groups. In a \u200bjoint statement, Canada, Denmark, Finland, \u200cFrance, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Swede<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned on Wednesday a move \u200bby Israel to ban electricity or water to facilities owned by the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, a U.N. spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the move would “further impede” the agency’s ability to operate and carry \u2060out activities. “The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n