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The directive came in a letter to the U.N., after the Israeli Parliament banned the relief agency that has aided Palestinian refugees for decades.
Jan. 24, 2025, 8:04 p.m. ET
Israel told the United Nations on Friday that its relief agency known as UNRWA, a critical lifeline to two million Palestinians during the 15 months of war in Gaza, had six days to stop all operations in East Jerusalem.
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said in a letter addressed to the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, “UNRWA is required to cease its operations in Jerusalem and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city, no later than 30 January 2025.”
The letter was Israel’s first official notice to the U.N. about how it planned to enforce legislation passed by the Israeli Parliament in October banning UNRWA, known formally as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, from operating in Israeli territory. The measure also prohibited Israeli officials from engaging with officials and employees of UNRWA.
The move came after months of tensions between the Israeli government and the U.N. agency, which provides food, shelter, health care, vocational training and education to Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, especially in the aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that set off the war. The agency also aids Palestinians who live in neighboring countries like Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where Palestinians displaced in the founding of Israel have lived for decades.
Israel has accused UNRWA of being infiltrated by members of Hamas. But two U.N. investigations found that fewer than 10 employees out of nearly 13,000 were affiliated with the armed Palestinian group, and they were fired.
Two hundred and sixty-nine of UNRWA’s staff members have been killed in Gaza — the largest loss of life among U.N. employees in any conflict, officials say.
