UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The head of the United Nations (UN) agency for Palestinian refugees urged the world to save it from an Israeli ban that would have “disastrous consequences” for millions of people caught up in the war in Gaza.
Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the agency known as UNRWA, told the 193 nations of the UN General Assembly that they must take action to prevent Israel from implementing legislation that prohibits the agency’s operations in the Palestinian territories. The laws, adopted by Israel’s parliament last month, take effect in 90 days.
UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment, as well as their descendants, until there is a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
UNRWA has been the main agency distributing humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, where almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on aid for survival amid Israel’s more than year-long war with Hamas.
