A proposed Israeli law that seeks to halt the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) would lead to a severe crisis if passed, warned United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Guterres mentioned that he directly communicated his concerns to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu about the potential consequences of the legislation.

“Such a measure would suffocate efforts to ease human suffering and tensions in Gaza, and indeed, the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory. It would be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster,” Guterres told reporters.

In July, Israel’s Knesset gave preliminary approval to a bill that would officially label UNRWA as a terrorist organization. This past Sunday, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee gave the go-ahead for the bill to be brought to a vote in the plenary.

Responding to Guterres’ remarks on Tuesday, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon told Reuters, “Israel works with humanitarian agencies that are actually interested in humanitarian aid and not activism or, in some cases, terrorism.”

UNRWA has long faced criticism for its ties with Hamas, with increased scrutiny following the discovery that some of its employees were directly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

In January, Israel alleged that UNRWA staff members participated in the October 7 Hamas assaults, presenting evidence that UNRWA personnel helped kidnap a woman, distributed ammunition, and were actively involved in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were killed.

Following these allegations, Guterres announced the formation of a review panel led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to investigate the accusations against UNRWA.

In April, the review group released its findings, acknowledging “neutrality-related issues” within UNRWA but also stating that Israel had not yet provided definitive evidence that a significant portion of UNRWA’s staff were linked to terrorist organizations.

Nevertheless, in a recent development, the UN for the first time admitted that some UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.

{Matzav.com Israel}