The Palestinian relief agency UNRWA has said the Israeli action to ban a UN agency in the middle of a conflict is unprecedented in a post on X.

UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma is quoted in an interview saying, “It has never happened in the history of the United Nations that a member state decides to ban a UN agency, in the middle of a war from doing its work.”

“The clock is ticking for a possible ban on UNRWA to deliver essential services for millions of Palestine refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” the post said.

Touma is quoted in the post that the UN is not planning to replace UNRWA. “What needs to happen is for the Israeli Parliament to retract the decision”, the post quotes her.