Tel Aviv, MINA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Wednesday for the closure of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Middle East Monitor reports.
Israel has accused some UNRWA staff of involvement in the 7 October Hamas assault in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Donors, including the United States have paused funding, pending an investigation, but aid agencies say ending UNRWA operations would wreck humanitarian efforts in devastated Gaza.
The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which was set up to help refugees of the war at Israel’s founding in 1948 and to which more than half Gaza’s population look to for day-to-day assistance.
“It’s time the international community and the UN itself understand that UNRWA’s mission has to end,” Netanyahu told visiting UN delegates, according to his office.
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He said UNRWA should be replaced by other aid agencies “if we are going to solve the problem of Gaza as we intend to do”.
Earlier, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, described UNRWA as “the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza” and appealed to all countries to “guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s life-saving work”.
In Gaza, witnesses said Israel had stepped up air strikes on Gaza City, in the north, and bombarded parts of Khan Yunis, in the south, despite what appeared to be the most serious peace initiative for months in the Israel-Palestine war.
Hamas, the Palestinian group, is currently studying the proposal, which envisages the release of all remaining hostages seized on 7 October. Israel says they number around 136. Hamas has demanded an end to Israel’s offensive. (T/RE1/P2)
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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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