ISTANBUL: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned on Sunday Israeli attempts to classify the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as a 'terrorist organization.' In a statement, the pan-Islamic grouping 'strongly denounced Israel's illegal measures to undermine the status and role of the UNRWA through attempts to classify it as a 'terrorist organization' and strip it of immunities and privileges granted to its employees.' These attempts 'come amid an escalation of direct attacks on the agency's facilities (in the Gaza Strip), which led to the killing of 192 of its employees,' it added. On Wednesday, the Knesset (Israel's parliament) advanced a bill to revoke the immunities and privileges granted to UNRWA employees, in a move seen by Palestinians and the UN as part of an Israeli campaign to dismantle the UN agency and resolve the refugee issue. Israel accuses UNRWA employees of contributing to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, claiming that the agency's education system 'supports terrorism and hatred." The OIC considered the Israeli campaign against the UNRWA as 'an extension of the serious Israeli violations of the UN Charter, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and relevant UN resolutions.' Israel has launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7, killing more than 36,400 people, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and injuring over 82,600 others, according to local health authorities. Nearly eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid Israel's crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine. Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war. *Writing by Rania Abu Shamala Source: Anadolu Agency
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