The UNRWA said that Commissioner-general of the UNRWA Peter Hansen was bared on Wednesday from leaving the Gaza Strip to the West Bank through Eretz Crossing, in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The UNRWA said in a statement that “The Israeli government and in an unprecedented move against a country which is a member at the United Nations, barred Perter Hansen, Commissioner-general of the UNRWA, and UNRWA workers.
“In an unprecedented and serious development, the Israeli authorities have barred Peter Hansen, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General and an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, from leaving Gaza to carry out his duties in the West Bank . It is unheard of for the executive head of a UN agency to have his freedom of movement flagrantly curtailed by a member state of the UN in this wayâ€Â, the UNRWA said.
Hansen commenting on the incident said that he doesn’t see and logical reason for this act, adding that the UNRWA has not received yet and response or logical explanation from the Israeli government concerning the treatment the UNRWA is subject to by the army.
“I fail to see any rational reason, and we have not been offered any, for this unacceptable disrespect for international law and just common decency. The Agency’s ability to carry out its essential humanitarian operations is being seriously underminedâ€Â, Hansen said
Army claimed that Eretz was closed because of the discovery of an explosive with a Palestinian worker.
Palestinian workers use a different passage through Eretz, and are not allowed to use the same passage used by the UN staff with diplomatic visas.
