Police have shuttered a health clinic in Jerusalem’s Old City run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency serving Palestinians, and ordered it to remain closed for 30 days.

The police action was Israel’s latest step targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has provided social services to millions of Palestinians. Israel has accused the group of collaborating with Hamas, and has said some of its employees have ties to terror groups or participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught.

Israel has passed legislation banning the group from Israeli territory, barring Israeli officials from having contact with it and shutting it off from Israeli electricity and water. Israel was due to stop providing those services to the rest of UNRWA’s facilities in Jerusalem in the coming weeks.

According to the UN, Israeli officers “stormed” the health clinic on Monday, closed it for 30 days and ordered it to remove UN signage. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, which said the closure will last until February 11, it is known as the al-Zawiya Clinic. The Haaretz newspaper reported that the clinic’s officials fear the closure will be permanent.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called the closure “a new step in a pattern of deliberate disregard for international law & the United Nations.”

In response to an inquiry from The........

© The Times of Israel