JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem were set to lose education, healthcare and other services provided by U.N. agency UNRWA as an Israeli ban on the organisation takes effect on 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.

Israel’s Knesset (parliament) voted in October to ban UNRWA’s operations in areas under Israeli occupation, alleging that the UN agency’s employees were involved in a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 -- a charge UNRWA denies.

This marks the enforcement of legislation passed by the Knesset in October 2024 that bans UNRWA’s operations within Israel's jurisdiction - Click on the link for more

Israel on Friday said that the UN's Palestinian aid agency UNRWA has until the end of January to leave Jerusalem. UNRWA must "cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city,

The ban on United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) operations in east Jerusalem will come into effect on January 31, but both UNRWA and Israeli government officials are still uncertain about what will happen on the ground,

UNRWA highlights severe impacts on Palestinian lives if Israel closes its east Jerusalem headquarters, affecting schools and clinics.

Israel’s UN ambassador on Friday announced that the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees must end its operations and vacate all its premises in Jerusalem by January 30, 2025. Defying international concerns,