Israel on Friday said the UN’s Palestinian aid agency UNRWA has until the end of January to leave Jerusalem.

UNRWA must “cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city, no later than 30 January 2025,” Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon wrote in a Friday letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres seen by dpa.

Israel accuses UNRWA, which has supported Palestinians since 1949, of employing staff who participate in terrorist activity.

Last year, the Israeli parliament passed a law banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory and prohibiting Israeli officials from cooperating with the organisation.

Mr Danon then notified Mr Guterres “of the termination of cooperation” between Israel and the UN aid organisation.

Observers fear that the law will make providing for the Palestinian civilian population more difficult, while Israel wishes to provide humanitarian aid through other organisations.

“Preventing @UNRWA to operate might sabotage the #Gaza #ceasefire, failing once again hopes of people who have gone through unspeakable suffering,” UNRWA boss Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday in a post on X.

“The work of UNRWA must continue in Gaza + across the occupied Palestinian territory.”

The UN established UNRWA in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the 1948 and 1967 wars, and their descendants – some 5.9 million people – the aid organisation said.

UNRWA has more than 30,000 employees, most of them Palestinians.

In the Gaza Strip alone, the agency employs around 13,000 people, most of whom are refugees themselves.

The aid organisation provides Palestinian refugees with basic services such as education and health care and has also provided shelter for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons

It has also provided humanitarian aid since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

(dpa/NAN)