Unrwa staff forced to leave Israel after ban comes into effect
Unrwa staff forced to leave Israel after ban comes into effect
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UN agency says work in West Bank and Gaza will continue amid concerns over impact on delivery of aid. International staff working for the UN’s main agency serving Palestinians have been forced to leave Israel after its ban on the agency came into effect.
As the UN flag was still flying above the headquarters building in Jerusalem, Palestinian staff were not present at the site over security concerns amid a planned “celebration” by Israeli rightwing groups outside the compound. While Unrwa said on Thursday that it would continue working in Gaza and the West Bank for as long as possible, it added it had received no communications from Israel on how the ban would be implemented – most crucially over the delivery of aid to Gaza.
The Israeli ban went ahead on Thursday after the country’s supreme court rejected a petition by the Palestinian human rights group Adalah contesting the new law prohibiting Unrwa. The court did note that the legislation “prohibits Unrwa activity only on the sovereign territory of the state of Israel”, but did not prohibit such activity in Gaza and the West Bank. The ban does apply, however, to the Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, where Unrwa has a field headquarters for its operations in the West Bank.
About 25 international staff left Israel on Wednesday after Israel had refused to issue visas or extend existing ones. International staff make up about 2% of the agency’s workforce. “The headquarters is still there, and flag is still up,” said Juliette Touma, an Unrwa spokesperson.
