Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) approved, on Sunday, in a preliminary reading, a draft law to sever ties with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and declare it a terrorist organization.
The Knesset’s move comes after most Western countries retreated from cutting off funding for UNRWA after Israel failed to prove its allegations of the agency’s employees participating in the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7.
Yesterday, Saturday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Taiani announced Rome’s resumption of funding for UNRWA after a 4-month hiatus, as part of new support prepared by his country’s government worth 35 million euros for the Palestinian people.
This came during Tayani’s meeting with Muhammad Mustafa, the Palestinian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, in the Italian capital, Rome.
The Israeli war on Gaza left more than 116,000 Palestinians dead and wounded – most of them children and women – and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues to close the crossings and disrupt the work of UNRWA, among many measures to starve the Palestinian people in northern and southern Gaza.
It is noteworthy that UNRWA is a United Nations agency concerned with implementing relief and employment programs for Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA was established on December 8, 1949, and has two main headquarters, one in Vienna and the other in Amman, in addition to representations in New York, Washington, Cairo, and occupied Jerusalem, and provides its services to about 5.9 million Palestinians.