Israel vows to stop UN agency’s activities in Gaza after war

Jerusalem, Jan 28 (AFP/APP): Israel vowed Saturday to stop the UN humanitarian aid agency in Gaza from operating after the war, and called for its chief to resign, after the sacking of staff accused of involvement in the October 7 attack.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday it had fired several employees over Israel’s accusations, promising a thorough investigation into the claims, which were not specified.
Donors including Germany, Britain, Italy, Australia and Finland have followed the lead of the United States, which said Friday it had suspended additional funding to the agency over the accusations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to quit his post.
“Mr Lazzarini please resign,” Katz said on social media platform X late on Saturday in response to a post by the UNRWA chief warning that funding cuts meant the agency’s operation in Gaza was about to collapse.
Katz had said in an earlier statement that the UNRWA “must be replaced with agencies dedicated to genuine peace and development” in Gaza’s rebuilding.
Hamas slammed Israeli “threats” against UNRWA on Saturday, urging the United Nations and other international organisations not to “cave in to the threats and blackmail”.
Relations between Israel and UNRWA have been strained for years but deteriorated in recent days, with the UN body condemning tank shelling it said had hit a shelter for displaced people in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis.
The agency said tens of thousands of displaced people had been registered at the shelter and Wednesday’s tank shelling killed 13 people.
The Israeli military said “a thorough review of the operations of the forces in the vicinity is underway”, adding it was examining the possibility that the strike was a “result of Hamas fire”.
Lazzarini slammed Wednesday’s bombardment as a “blatant disregard of basic rules of war”, with the compound clearly marked as a UN facility and its coordinates shared with Israeli authorities.
The Israeli army is the only force known to have tanks operating in the Gaza Strip.