Israeli lawmaker, settlers break into UNRWA facility in east al-Quds
A group of extremist Israeli settlers, led by a Knesset member, have forcefully entered a compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied east al-Quds.
Roland Friedrich, UNRWA’s West Bank coordinator, confirmed that around a dozen Israeli protesters, including a member of parliament, stormed the compound on Monday
Among them was Yulia Malinovsky, a key legislator behind the recent Israeli law banning UNRWA.
UNRWA provides services including development assistance, education, emergency humanitarian aid, and healthcare to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
It is also the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza, where 2.1 million refugees are already relying on extremely inadequate amounts of aid allowed across the border by the Israeli regime.
The Israeli parliament ratified legislation on October 28 that bans UNRWA from operating in Palestinian and occupied territories. In less than one week, this legislation will come into effect.
The new law effectively ends the UNRWA operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza because the Israeli regime controls access to both regions.
The Monday attack on the UNRWA office will be further straining relations between the Israeli regime and the UN agency. It came on the occasion of the 1967 illegal occupation of East al-Quds, in another blatant violation of international law.
Earlier in the day, over 900 settlers, led by Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Meanwhile, the Hamas resistance group has strongly censured the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque led by Ben Gvir. The movement says such violations aim to Judaize the Muslims’ holy site.
The group warned against the blatant desecration of the holy site and provocative actions.
Hamas called on Palestinians to gather at the mosque in large numbers and protect it by resisting the violations.
The movement also urged Arab and Muslim nations to fulfill their responsibility regarding Palestinians by resisting forced displacement and halting the Israeli regime’s aggression against them.
Benjamin Netanyahu met with visiting US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in the occupied al-Quds on Sunday.
Noem was accompanied at her meeting with Netanyahu by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee.
Netanyahu’s office added that during the meeting, Noem “expressed her unreserved support for the prime minister” and his aggression on Gaza.
Noem and Huckabee also attended celebrations organized by settlers marking the 1967 Israeli occupation of al-Quds city.
The visit by a US official to the occupied territories comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip to capture the entire besieged Palestinian region.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened as an Israeli airstrike targeted a school in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, killing multiple people, including a father and his five children.
Reports indicate at least 18 children were among those killed in the Israeli attack on the Gaza school.
