JERUSALEM (dpa-AFX) - The implementation of new Israeli laws banning the UN Palestine refugee agency will undermine Gaza ceasefire, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned at the Security Council.
UNRWA ban in the Palestinian territory is set to take effect on Thursday.
Briefing ambassadors in New York on Tuesday, Lazzarini warned that the laws passed in October last year in the Knesset jeopardize the lives of millions of Palestinians and risks undermining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
They require that UNRWA cease its activities in the territory of the State of Israel - including the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem as the Knesset defines it, in defiance of international law - as well as restricting any Government contacts with the agency or anyone acting on its behalf.
'Curtailing our operations now - outside a political process, and when trust in the international community is so low - will undermine the ceasefire. It will sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition,' Lazzarini said.
He called for a 'decisive intervention' by Council to support peace and stability in the occupied Palestinian territory and the broader region.
UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly to provide humanitarian and other essential services to Palestine refugees until a political solution is reached.
Lazzarini further stressed that the full implementation of the Knesset legislation will be 'disastrous.'
He added that it would also degrade the capacity of the United Nations just when humanitarian assistance must be scaled up.
'This will only worsen the already catastrophic living conditions of millions of Palestinians.'
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