United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has written to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing his concern over new Israeli legislation that would ban the main U.N. agency supporting Palestinian refugees.
“The Secretary-General is writing and has dispatched a letter not too long ago, a few hours ago to the Prime Minister of Israel, outlining his concerns, the issues of international law that have been raised by this law,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday of the two bills adopted Monday by the Israeli Knesset.
“If it is implemented, it is clear that it will have a devastating impact on the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in the occupied territory,” Dujarric said.
He said Guterres also has written to the president of the U.N. General Assembly, which created UNRWA in December 1949.
Guterres had previously criticized the two laws, set to go into effect in 90 days, which he said “could have devastating consequences” for Palestinian refugee
Guterres also called on Israel to uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law and said national legislation “cannot alter those obligations.”
Israel’s U.N. envoy, Danny Danon, said “UNRWA Gaza has become a front for Hamas” and accused Guterres of ignoring that “indisputable fact.”
