Seven Western countries affirmed that they are deeply concerned by the Israeli Knesset’s plan to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by imposing stringent strictures on its operation.

In a statement on Sunday, Foreign Ministers of Germany, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea called on the Israeli occupation government to uphold its international obligations to never compromise UNRWA’s mandates and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid and essential services to the civilian population.

The services UNRWA affords to the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, West Bank and the entire region include education, healthcare and fuel distribution, the statement read, stressing that without UNRWA, offering these services would be highly restricted, if not impossible, which could lead to devastating impacts on the critical humanitarian situation which is dramatically worsening.

The Israeli Knesset is slated to vote on two controversi
al bills, on Monday, that aim to designate UNRWA as a terrorist organization, prevent the Israeli occupation authorities from engaging with it, in addition to banning its operation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Following Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA was largely affected by the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, where numerous UNRWA-run facilities came under unprecedented shelling and increasing threats to halt its operation.

Source: Qatar News Agency