MOSCOW, June 5. /TASS/. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is essential and vital amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told TASS in an interview.

"UNRWA is irreplaceable, indispensable. It does an amazing job. Of course, many UNRWA employees have been killed in the last 18 months or so, and we mourn them, and we miss them. They were doing heroic work, getting aid to those who needed it," the UN official said.

"No other agency within the UN can replace UNRWA, can do what it does at the scale it does, particularly looking at education and health. So the General Assembly is very clear with us, but we're also very clear that it cannot be replaced," he continued.

In Fletcher’s words, Israel has been trying to push UNRWA’s operations out of the Gaza Strip. Its government is open about the fact that it doesn't want to work with UNRWA anymore, and the country’s parliament, Knesset, has passed legislation to that effect.

"We will keep making the case for why UNRWA's work is so essential, so important, and we welcome the fact that the international community is also so clear in support of UNRWA right now," the under-secretary-general said.

On May 12, Israel’s permanent mission to UN offices in Geneva said the Jewish state had gathered and presented to the UN evidence that at least 25% of UNRWA staff are members of Palestinian radical organization Hamas. In Israel’s opinion, the UN has ignored its warnings and has been actively concealing UNRWA’s links to terrorism.

Israeli Government Spokesman David Mencer announced in late January that within 48 hours, Israel would shut down all UNRWA offices, stop communication with members of the organization and ban its activities in the country.

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on April 29 that more than 50 UNRWA employees have been subjected to inhumane treatment and torture by Israeli servicemen in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. According to the UNRWA chief, the agency’s employees were beaten and used as human shields. In this connection, Lazzarini demanded justice and punishment for all those responsible for these flagrant violations of international law.