UN chief argues that Israel severing ties with UNRWA would be ‘catastrophe’

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he has written to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning him that draft Knesset legislation to prevent the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants (UNRWA) from working in the West Bank and Gaza would be a “catastrophe.”

“Such a measure would suffocate efforts to ease human suffering and tensions in Gaza, and indeed, the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory. It would be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster,” he tells reporters.

In July, the Knesset gave preliminary approval to a bill that declares UNRWA a terrorist organization and proposes severing relations with the body. Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA of collaborating with Hamas terrorists in Gaza and of playing an active role in radicalizing Gazans over the years.