THE head of the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees said today that Israel’s new laws effectively banning its activities in the country will leave a vacuum that will cause more deaths and create further instability in Gaza and the West Bank.

UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said the new Israeli legislation denied Palestinians a functioning provider of lifesaving services, education and healthcare.

UNRWA has been the main organisation procuring and distributing aid in the Gaza Strip, where almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians relies on it for survival.

Israel alleges, without evidence, that Hamas and other resistance groups have infiltrated UNRWA, using its facilities and taking aid. 

The laws, passed by the Knesset this week, sever all Israel’s ties with UNRWA and ban its operations there.

The laws are expected to take effect in three months.

If the Israeli decision is implemented, “this would be a total disaster. It is like throwing [out] the baby with the water,” Mr Lazzarini said, speaking in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where he is attending a conference to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.

“Having UNRWA ending its activities within the three months would also mean more people will die in Gaza,” he added.

Meanwhile, new Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem vowed in his first public comments today that the group would keep fighting in its ongoing war with Israel until it was offered acceptable ceasefire terms.

“If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable,” Mr Kassem said, speaking in a pre-recorded televised address from an undisclosed location. 

“We will not beg for a ceasefire, as we will continue [fighting], no matter how long it takes.”

Mr Kassem, a cleric and founding member of the Lebanese group, was named on Tuesday to replace former leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on a Beirut suburb in late September. Mr Kassem had served as Mr Nasrallah’s deputy for more than three decades.

Several other high-ranking Hezbollah officials have also been killed in recent weeks.

Mr Kassem acknowledged that the series of blows dealt to the group in recent weeks, including pager and walkie-talkie explosions that targeted Hezbollah members in mid-September and the assassination of Mr Nasrallah, had “hurt” the group, but he warned that “Hezbollah’s capabilities are still available and compatible with a long war.”