The United Nations is preparing to suspend the Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) in the Middle East due to Israel's ban on the agency's work in the country, The New York Times reported, citing sources.
As the publication notes, the world organization is preparing to reduce the work of UNRWA both in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank of the Jordan River.
World Organization officials say that if Israel passes laws banning the agency's activities, Israeli officials will be barred from communicating with UNRWA staff, making it impossible to coordinate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza with Israel.
Israel, the paper notes, despite the fact that the ban on UNRWA's activities has not yet come into effect, has already begun to distance itself from cooperation with the agency, for example, the Israeli military has begun to prohibit UNRWA from using checkpoints north of the Gaza Strip, where the Israel Defense Forces forces (IDF) are carrying out intensive military operations.
