UNRWA suspends services in West Bank refugee camps amid Israeli military operations

By Hamood Al Ragawi

ISTANBUL (AA) - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) announced on Friday that it has suspended its services in several refugee camps in the northern West Bank due to ongoing Israeli military incursions.

“Israeli security forces’ operations in the northern West Bank continue impacting Palestine refugees,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on the social media platform X.

Since early Wednesday, the Israeli army has been conducting a large-scale military operation in the cities of Tulkarm, Jenin, and Tubas in the northern West Bank. This operation is the most extensive since 2002.

As of Friday afternoon, the operation has resulted in the deaths of 19 Palestinians.

“Among the people reported killed are children and one person with disabilities,” Lazzarini added.

Lazzarini noted that “tens of thousands of people in four refugee camps have been impacted by this operation, including through the destruction of public and private infrastructure.”

The agency commissioner pointed out that UNRWA had to suspend its services to the communities in several camps.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

At least 673 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 5,400 others injured, and over 10,300 arrested in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul