
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, on Friday informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a letter that the "Palestinian refugee" agency UNRWA must “cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city” by January 30.
The notification follows the law which was passed by the Knesset in October banning UNRWA’s operation on Israeli land, and which takes effect on January 30.
A week after the Knesset passed the legislation, then-Foreign Minister Israel Katz officially announced the cancellation of the 1967 agreement between Israel and UNRWA which formed the legal basis for relations between the State of Israel and UNRWA.
UNRWA, which has long been criticized for cooperating with Hamas, has come under increased scrutiny as its workers have been found to have been directly involved in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel revealed a year ago that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks.
It then presented a dossier showing that the UNRWA workers who participated in the Hamas massacre kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively took part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.
Following the Israeli revelations, Guterres announced the creation of a review group, headed by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, to look into the Israeli allegations.
The group, which released its report last April, said it found neutrality-related issues" in UNRWA but also claimed that Israel had yet to provide evidence for allegations that a significant number of its staff were members of terrorist organizations.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)