New york: Two bills before the Israeli parliament could put a halt to the lifesaving operations of UN Palestine relief agency, UNRWA, which has been indispensable and irreplaceable ‘more than ever’ over the past year of war in Gaza, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.

‘That’s why I have written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express profound concern about draft legislation that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,’ he said at the Security Council stakeout in New York.

He said such a measure would suffocate efforts to ease suffering and tensions in Gaza and the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory, warning that ‘it would be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster.’

Source: Emirates News Agency