Spokesperson Jonathan Fowler says the clinics and schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) continue to operate in occupied East Jerusalem and occupied West Bank but the situation remains “highly uncertain” due to two Israeli laws effectively banning the organisation.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said the first law bans UNRWA’s operations “on what Israel deems to be its sovereign territory – here we’re talking about East Jerusalem which, of course, in the eyes of international law, the International Court of Justice and so on is actually an occupied territory.”
Fowler added that the second law bans all contact between Israeli officials and UNRWA. “This poses immense potential problems,” he warned, citing the Israeli army’s demolition of housing blocks in Jenin as an example.
“Normally, we would know that a military operation is coming and we’d be able to make sure that the schoolchildren are safe but we have no possibility of coordination.
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