UPDATE - Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia condemn Israeli move to ban UNRWA

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT FROM SAUDI ARABIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY; REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Ahmed Aamar

ISTANBUL (AA) - Palestine, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have strongly condemned the Israeli Knesset's passing of a law to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli move against UNRWA represents "a flagrant violation of international law and the obligations of Israel as the occupying power" to the Palestinian territories.

It added that passing the draft law is part of the Israeli campaign against UNRWA, and stressed that the international community must continue to provide financial and political support to the agency.

The Palestinian Presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh rejected the Israeli banning of UNRWA, considering it as a "challenge to international legitimacy and UN resolution."

He added that the Israeli move aims to liquidate the issue of refugees and their right to return and compensation.

Abu Rudeineh stressed that the international community "must treat Israel as a racist state and remove it from international legitimacy."

Separately, several Palestinian groups, including Hamas, also condemned the Israeli move against UNRWA, calling it an attempt to obliterate the Palestinian refugee cause.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry on Tuesday described the law as a “flagrant violation” of international law and a part of Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” against the Palestinian population.

The statement further condemned “the systematic targeting of UN agencies by Israel” amid the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe Palestinians are facing.

Earlier, the Israeli Knesset passed a law banning UNRWA from operating, which would eventually affect its work in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“The Knesset plenum approved Monday evening in its second and third readings a law to cut official ties with and halt the activity of UNRWA, some of whose operators are suspected of participating in the massacres (by the Palestinian group Hamas) on Oct. 7 (last year),” said a report by Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

The vote saw 92 out of 120 Knesset members in favor of the ban, with 10 opposed.

A separate bill from Knesset members Ron Katz, Yulia Malinovsky and Dan Illouz, which was approved by lawmakers in a 87-9 vote, mandates that Israel cut all ties with UNRWA, barring any cooperation or privileges the agency previously held.

The legislation will take effect in 90 days.

Israel has accused UNRWA employees of complicity in the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border incursion by Hamas, alleging that the agency’s educational programs “promote terrorism and hatred.”

UNRWA, headquartered in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, denies the accusations and asserts that it remains neutral, solely focusing on supporting refugees.

The agency was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949, with a mandate to provide assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees.

The Israeli army has continued a devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border incursion by Hamas last October, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Over 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 101,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Mohammad Sio contributed to this story.