'Darkest hour': UN agency for Palestinians seeks support from member states

The UN aid agency for Palestinians is facing its "darkest hour" and requires ongoing support from UN members after Israel's decision to ban the organisation, its chief said.

"Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos," the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, told the General Assembly on Wednesday.

Lazzarini called for the world body - which created UNRWA in 1949 - to prevent implementation of the ban on the organisation in Israel and occupied east Jerusalem which was approved by the Israeli parliament last month.

Implementation of the law "will have disastrous consequences," Lazzarini added.

"In Gaza, dismantling UNRWA will collapse the UN humanitarian response, which relies heavily on the agency's infrastructure," he continued.

"In the absence of a capable public administration or state, only UNRWA can deliver education to more than 650,000 girls and boys in Gaza. In the absence of UNRWA, an entire generation will be denied the right to education," he added.

Condemnation from the international community

Israel's parliament approved a proposal to shut down UNRWA's operations despite condemnation from the international community, including its ally the United States as well as Britain and Germany.

Washington warned Israel on October 15 that it had 30 days to increase the amount of aid reaching Gaza or it would consider withholding some military assistance to its key ally.

In January, Israel accused a dozen of UNRWA's Gaza employees of involvement in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which was followed by the deadliest war in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli ban has raised fears UNRWA employees will lose their ability to coordinate with Israeli authorities to cross checkpoints and move from one place to another in the occupied West Bank and war-stricken Gaza.