Yoav Gallant has told a visiting delegation of ambassadors to the United Nations that the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, is “Hamas with a facelift” and has “lost its legitimacy to exist in its current form.”

“Funds from countries all over the world have been funnelled through UNRWA and used to strengthen terror infrastructure, and to pay terrorists,” Al Jazeera reports quoting the defence minister as saying.

A statement from the defence ministry did not say where the meeting with the delegation led by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan took place and who the international members of the delegation were.