The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has condemned the recent Israeli regime’s “threats” against the United Nations Relief Works and Agency (UNRWA), urging the world body and other international organizations not to “cave in to the threats and blackmail.”
The resistance group made the remarks in a statement on Saturday, after Israel accused several UNRWA staff of involvement in Hamas’s attack against the occupying entity in early October and threatened to stop the UN body from operating in the besieged Gaza Strip after the war.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a post on social media platform X that Tel Aviv is aiming to ensure “UNRWA will not be a part of the day after”.
The latest development comes a day after Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, vowed to hold “accountable, including through criminal prosecution” any UNRWA employee found to have taken part in “acts of terror.”
He added that the UN agency had sacked several employees accused by Israel of involvement in Hamas attack in early October.
UN chief Antonio Guterres also pledged to conduct an “urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA.”
Separately on Saturday, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called on countries that have decided to suspend their support for the UNRWA to “immediately reverse their decision,” stressing that such a move “entails great political and humanitarian relief risks”.