Amnesty International condemns Israeli Knesset’s law to ban UNRWA’s operations in occupied Palestinian territory

GENEVA: Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said that the Israeli Knesset’s law banning UNRWA’s operation in Israeli is unconscionable and constitutes a clear assault on the rights of Palestinian refugees.

In a statement, in response to the Israeli Knesset’s law to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating inside Israel, it added: ‘This law is unconscionable and constitutes a clear assault on the rights of Palestinian refugees. Its clear aim is to make the Agency’s work in the occupied Palestinian territory impossible by forcing the closure of its headquarters in East Jerusalem and terminating the entry visas of its employees.”

Callamard described the law as appalling and inhumane, and that it will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians, who have endured unimaginable hardships and whose need for global support has become greater than ever.

The international community must urgently condemn this law in the stronges
t possible terms and exert whatever influence it has on the Israeli government to repeal it.

The Secretary General of Amnesty International said that UNRWA played an indispensable role in providing food, water, medical aid, education and shelter to around two million Palestinians in Gaza, who have been forcibly displaced, subjected to a premeditated famine and are facing the risk of genocide as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression over the past 12 months.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA