GENEVA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United Nation's Palestinian refugee agency said on Sunday it had been ordered by Israel to vacate premises and cease all of its operations in occupied East Jerusalem by Thursday.
Israeli lawmakers in October passed a law banning UNRWA from the country and also prohibiting Israeli authorities for having contact with the agency, although there exceptions can be made.
Most of the international community, including the U.N., considers East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, to be territory occupied by Israel. However, the Israeli government considers all of Jerusalem to be part of the country.
UNRWA said the order to cease operations was contradictory to Israel's international obligations as a UN member state.
"United Nations premises are inviolable and enjoy privileges and immunities under the United Nations Charter" and Israel was obliged to respect UN "privileges and immunities", it said.
UNRWA has a total workforce of about 30,000 people working with Palestinian refugees around the Middle East.
Asked if UNRWA employees would remain in East Jerusalem after Jan. 30, Communications Director Juliette Touma said:
“We don’t know. Our international staff have visas until 29 January only in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. If their visas are not extended, they will have to leave.”
Touma said it was unclear if UNRWA would also have to immediately stop providing services on East Jerusalem too.
"If it does, then more than 1,100 students will be deprived of education and another 70,000 patients of primary health care,” she said.
Israeli lawmakers who drafted the law banning UNRWA had cited what they described as the involvement of some of the agency's staffers in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and staffers having membership in Hamas and other armed groups.
A U.N. investigation found that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the attack and fired them.
The legislation has alarmed the U.N. and some of Israel's Western allies who fear it would further worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza after 15 months of war.
The ban does not refer to operations in the West Bank and Gaza. However, the restrictions on Israeli authorities having contact with the agency is likely to impact operations there.