RAMALLAH, December 17, 2025 (WAFA) – Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry condemned on Wednesday the Knesset’s approval to ban essential services to UNRWA officers as “grave escalation and a crime”.

In a press statement, the Ministry said that approval of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of a plan to cut services, including water and electricity, to UNRWA offices and premises as a direct act of aggression targeting the Agency, which enjoys international legal immunity, and whose vital and indispensable role is grounded in international consensus, particularly given that Israel has no sovereignty over the Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, nor over the Agency.

It cautioned that the Knesset’s approval of the ban does not merely affect the agency, but rather represents a grave blow to the entire international humanitarian system, and a deliberate attempt to criminalize humanitarian relief, at a time when Israel, the occupying power, continues to wage its genocidal war against the Palestinian people.

It added that the plan to ban places the international community before a genuine test of its credibility and its commitment to protecting its UN institutions, preventing their undermining or subjugation to the logic of force and the imposition of fait accompli, and constitutes a clear violation of the ICJ advisory opinion regarding UNRWA.

It called upon the international community, including the United Nations, UN member states, and the UNSC, to adopt firm international positions and to take immediate and serious action to provide full political and legal protection to UNRWA, ensure the uninterrupted continuation of its humanitarian mandate without obstacles or threats, and impose deterrent sanctions on Israel.

It also urged them to hold Israel accountable for its grave and ongoing violations of international humanitarian law, and bring to justice all those involved in the process of criminalizing UNRWA.

K.F.