Egypt refuses to withdraw Israel from the UNRWA agreement and warns of the consequences

Ibrahim Al-Khazen/Anatolia

On Monday afternoon, Egypt expressed its rejection of Israel‘s decision to cut ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and officially suspend its work, and he condemned it in the strongest terms, warning that humanitarian work had collapsed in Palestine.

This came in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, referring to Israel informing the United Nations that the agreement regarding the work of the UN agency has been suspended, which means the suspension of its activities. in the occupied Palestinian territories, if the decision comes into force within the country. 3 months.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry “condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s decision to withdraw from the UNRWA agreement and officially suspend its work,” according to the statement.

He expressed his rejection of the resolution and considered it a “new chapter of clear and systematic Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law.”

This decision is a “dangerous development with which Israel aims to dissolve the Palestinian cause and the issue of refugees, including the right of return of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Cairo warned of “the dire consequences of this illegitimate decision on defenseless Palestinian civilians and the resulting total collapse of humanitarian work and the vital services that the organization provides to them.”

Egypt held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of this decision, stressing that “UNRWA’s role cannot be ignored or replaced.”

On October 28, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) finally approved a ban on UNRWA’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, in a move that was criticized by regional, European and Western countries and international organizations.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry indicated in its notification through a letter to the United Nations that the agreement signed on June 14, 1967 “was the legal basis for relations between Israel and UNRWA.”

Israel claims that UNRWA staff contributed to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and that the organization’s “educational system supports terrorism and hatred,” which was proved again to be false.

UNRWA denied Israel’s accusations, and the United Nations confirmed that the organization is neutral and primarily aims to support refugees, and emphasized that no other organization can carry out UNRWA’s activities to achieve

UNRWA was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949, and was asked to support and protect Palestinian refugees in its five areas of operation: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. .

Israel’s new restrictions on the Palestinians come as it continues a genocidal war in Gaza, which has resulted in more than 145,500 Palestinian deaths and injuries, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 people missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and women, in one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

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