Seven countries voice concern over Israeli bill targeting UNRWA operations

RAMALLAH: The Foreign Ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom, expressed in a joint statement their grave concern over legislation currently under consideration by the Israeli Knesset, aimed at revoking the privileges and immunities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East [UNRWA], forbidding any contact between Israeli state entities, officials and UNRWA, and prohibiting any UNRWA presence within Israel. 'UNRWA provides essential and life-saving humanitarian aid and basic services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and throughout the region. Without its work, the provision of such assistance and services, including education, health care, and fuel distribution in Gaza and the West Bank would be severely hampered if not impossible, with devastating consequences on an already critical and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, particularly in northern Gaza,' read the joi nt statement issued by the Representative Office of Japan to Palestine. The statement stressed that UNRWA and other UN organizations and agencies must be fully able to deliver humanitarian aid and assistance to those who need it most, fulfilling their mandates effectively. The Foreign Ministers of Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom urged the Israeli Government to abide by its international obligations, keep the reserve privileges and immunities of UNRWA untouched and live up to its responsibility to facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance in all its forms as well as the provision of sorely needed basic services to the civilian population. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA