In the Shuafat refugee camp, a hardscrabble district in east Jerusalem surrounded by a concrete wall, cars inched their way toward an Israeli checkpoint.

Israel orders UN Relief and Works Agency, the backbone of Palestinian humanitarian aid, to cease operations by Thursday.

The United Nation's Palestinian refugee agency said on Sunday it had been ordered by Israel to vacate premises and cease all of its operations in occupied East Jerusalem by Thursday.

The directive came in a letter to the U.N., after the Israeli Parliament banned the relief agency that has aided Palestinian refugees for decades.

If UNRWA does not function, there is a huge vacuum in order to give assistance to the poor people of Gaza who have suffered.' - Anadolu Ajansı

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Implementation of a ban on the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA in Israel - due to start on Thursday - will be disastrous, the UNRWA chief told the Security Council on Tuesday, as the United States accused it of being "irresponsible and dangerous."

Israeli officials have not spelt out how they will enforce the legislation passed last year by Israel's parliament, which accused Unrwa of being complicit with Hamas - an allegati

Gaza Employees and those reliant on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees are "deeply worried" for their future as the organisation's operations in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territories will be forced to a halt on Thursday.

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