JERUSALEM: A bill designating the primary United Nations assistance organization for Palestinians as a “terrorist organization” and proposing to break ties with it received preliminary approval from the Israeli Knesset on Monday.
Israel has been pressuring the UNRWA, which its leaders have accused of working with Hamas in Gaza, for years, and the vote against the organization is the most recent action in this direction.
According to the Knesset information service, the bill was accepted on its first reading and will now be sent back to the foreign affairs and defense committee for additional discussion.
Yulia Malinovsky, the bill’s proponent, was cited as calling UNRWA a “fifth column within Israel.”
Seventy Palestinians are killed by shelling in Khan Yunis; Prime Minister Shehbaz claims Tel Aviv is following a “genocidal agenda.”
Millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria get assistance, health care, and education from this organization. Its relationship with Israel has always been strained, but since October, things have been much worse, and Israel has kept calling for UNRWA to be abolished.
UNRWA spokesman Juliette Touma described it as “another attempt in a wider campaign to dismantle the agency.” “Such actions are unprecedented in United Nations history.”
Israel has accused hundreds of UNRWA employees of belonging to “terrorist groups,” such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, although it has not yet offered proof to a UN-appointed assessment.
Following the Israeli claims, a number of donor nations stopped funding UNRWA; however, many have subsequently changed their minds, including Britain, which declared last week that it would start paying again.
Hussein Al Sheikh, an associate of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, urged the international community to oppose moves to dismantle the agency. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority also denounced the Israeli vote.
70 Palestinians lost their lives.
The health ministry announced on Monday that Israeli firing on the southern Gazan city of Khan Yunis resulted in 70 Palestinian deaths and over 200 injuries.
A few of the injured were described as being in “dangerous condition.”
On Monday, thousands of Gazans left an area designated as a humanitarian zone by Israel after receiving orders to do so and being informed that an action in response to rocket launches would soon take place.
Heading to Washington for a major address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the period as one of “great political uncertainty” after US President Joe Biden decided not to run for reelection.
Nine months into the Gaza war, Netanyahu will meet with Biden, who has pressed him to accept a truce with Hamas.
Just two months after sending Palestinians there for their own safety, the Israeli military forced them to leave a portion of a humanitarian zone, sparking fierce fighting in Gaza.
The military said that it was “about to forcefully operate” to stop rocket firing, which is why it gave the order to evacuate the eastern Khan Yunis sector of the Al Mawasi humanitarian zone.
In the face of yet another uprooting, Palestinians crammed as many goods as they could into the dusty alleys of Khan Yunis using motorbikes, automobiles, donkey-drawn carts, and foot.
Shehbaz denounces Israel
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, called Israel’s attack on Khan Yunis and its order for Palestinian refugees to leave a humanitarian zone a mockery of humanity.
The prime minister said in a statement released by the PM Office that it was now evident that Israeli forces were targeting Palestinians for genocide and that unarmed individuals had not been given the chance to flee.
Shehbaz Sharif emphasized that Pakistan is in solidarity with its Palestinian brothers and sisters, calling on the UN to fulfill its responsibilities in addressing the Palestine issue.
