) The Israeli parliament has approved a final vote on two bills to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in the country, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on October 6 approved a draft bill to prohibit UNRWA from operating in the country. Israel has repeatedly said that employees of the UN agency were allegedly linked to Palestinian movement Hamas.
The bills were passed by a vote of 92 to 10, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.
Last week, a number of countries, including Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, voiced their opposition to the potential ban on UNRWA’s work in Israel.
In early October, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had sent an appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he expressed deep concern about the Knesset bill to ban the work of UNRWA, adding that if the document was adopted, it would contradict the UN Charter.
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