Ahmed Asmar
08 June 2024•Update: 09 June 2024
JERUSALEM
A senior Israeli official recommended Friday that the government classify the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) as "a terrorist organization," according to a media report.
Israeli public broadcaster KAN said Gilad Erdan, Israel's envoy to the UN, said the recommendation was in response to the UN blacklisting Israel as an entity that violates children's rights in conflict zones.
KAN noted that Israel is reviewing additional measures to respond to the UN, including cutting ties with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Erdan also suggested that the government deny visas to UN officials and the heads of UN agencies, and prevent them from working in the West Bank.
Erdan said earlier that Guterres added the Israeli army to a global list of offenders who have violated children's rights, marking the first time Israel was added to the list that is also known as the “List of Shame,” despite calls by rights groups to add Israel several years ago.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar
