DaysofPal-UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned the Israeli occupation that he may refer the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if it fails to repeal legislation targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and to return properties and assets seized from the agency.
According to Palestinian news agency Safa, Guterres delivered the warning in a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In the letter, the UN chief stressed that the United Nations “cannot remain indifferent to the measures taken by the Israeli occupation, which are in direct contradiction with its obligations under international law, and therefore must be reversed without delay.”
The warning comes amid escalating Israeli measures against UNRWA. In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed a law banning the agency from operating in the Israeli occupation and prohibiting Israeli officials from maintaining contact with it.
The legislation was amended last month to include provisions cutting electricity and water supplies to UNRWA facilities.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Governorate reported that Israeli occupation authorities had approved concrete steps to implement the law disconnecting electricity and water services from UNRWA buildings in occupied Jerusalem. Last month, the Israeli occupation also seized UNRWA headquarters and facilities in the city.
More recently, the Knesset gave final approval to a bill mandating the complete cutoff of electricity and water to UNRWA offices, further intensifying tensions between the Israeli occupation and the United Nations.
UNRWA provides essential education, health, and humanitarian services to millions of Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, and neighboring countries.
UN officials have repeatedly warned that restrictions on the agency’s operations could have severe humanitarian consequences, particularly amid ongoing war, displacement, and humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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