Top UN officials continued to line up on Tuesday to defend the irreplaceable role of the global body’s agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, insisting that if implemented, the Israeli parliament’s decision to ban it would only deepen suffering in Gaza.

Echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s warning late Monday that the development would likely have “devastating consequences” as UNRWA is the principal deliverer of aid relief inside the war-torn enclave, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the Knesset move “deeply troubling for many reasons”.

In Geneva, spokesperson for the UN human rights office (OHCHR) Jeremy Laurence said that the High Commissioner had pointed to the “potential dire impact” on the rights of all those who depend on the UN Relief and Works Agency.

“Without UNRWA, the delivery of food, healthcare, education, among other things, to most of Gaza”s population, would grind to a halt,” he said. “Civilians have already paid the heaviest price of this conflict over the past year. Truly, this decision will only make matters worse for them, far worse.”

The OHCHR spokesperson reiterated previous concerns “about Israel’s compliance with international law” with regard to its intense bombardment of Gaza, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, according to the local authorities. Mr. Laurence also highlighted that Israel remained bound by its obligations “under a range of human rights treaties”, including the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights.

‘Intolerable’ move, says Tedros

After Monday’s reported 92-10 vote by Knesset members in favour of two bills targeting UNRWA, head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called the development “intolerable”, while also “threatening the lives and health of all those who depend on UNRWA.

Around one in four UNRWA staff in Gaza are health workers carrying out routine but lifesaving work, noted WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. They “basically provided more than six million medical consultations last year in the health centres that are run by UN and they have been providing these consultations for more than half of Gaza population,” he said.

These health teams are responsible for the routine immunization of children including for polio and screening for disease and malnutrition, the WHO spokesperson explained. “So, really, if you think that 3,000 of their staff are health workers, it’s really unmatched; it could be it couldn't be matched by any agency, including WHO,” he said.