Additionally, water and electricity supplies to multiple UNRWA facilities are expected to be cut in the coming weeks, affecting schools, health centers and other critical buildings.
Legislative campaign
The event marks “a new step in a pattern of deliberate disregard for international law and the United Nations,” UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini tweeted.
“This is a direct result of legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in December, which intensified existing anti-UNRWA laws adopted in 2024,” he added.
The UNRWA Health Center in Jerusalem cares for hundreds of Palestinian refugee patients every day, agency spokesman Jonathan Fowler said. UN News.
“For most of them, it is their only chance to access primary health care.” he said. “So, there is a right to health involved in this.”
He stressed that UNRWA facilities are United Nations facilities, which are protected by international law, and this applies worldwide.
“An anti-humanitarian gesture”
Fowler described the impending water and power outage as “kind of an anti-humanitarian gesture in many ways,” and said it “is particularly shocking.”
He recalled that in October, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “reiterated in a crystal clear manner that The State of Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate UNRWA operations, not to hinder or impede them.. And yet this continues.”
He also warned of possible wider consequences.
“These are shameful measures. And it is very, very important that there is global awareness about what is happening, because this is happening much more than directly in East Jerusalem,” he said.
“It goes even beyond UNRWA. “This is something that potentially has global implications because of this pattern of disregard for international law.”