International Unrwa staff leave as Israel’s ban on activity takes effect

International staff working for the UN’s main agency serving Palestinians have been forced to leave after Israel’s ban on the agency came into effect.

As the UN flag was still flying above the headquarters building in Jerusalem, Palestinian staff were not present at the site over security concerns amid a planned “celebration” by Israeli rightwing groups outside the compound.

While Unrwa said on Thursday that it would continue working in Gaza and the West Bank for as long as possible, it added it had received no communications from Israel on how the ban would be implemented – most crucially over the delivery of aid to Gaza.

The implementation of the Israeli law banning Unrwa came on the same day that the Norwegian government said it would contribute $24m (£19.25m) to the agency.

“Gaza is in ruins, and Unrwa’s help is more necessary than ever,” the Norwegian foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, said in a statement. “It is extremely dramatic for Palestine that Israeli laws come into force that in practice can prevent Unrwa from working.”

The move was also condemned by the Spanish government. “The government rejects the entry into force of the Knesset laws that prevent Unrwa operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, and calls for their application to be suspended,” it said. “Spain expresses its deepest concern about the impact that this decision will have on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, jeopardising the ceasefire.”

The Israeli ban went ahead on Thursday after the country’s supreme court rejected a petition by the Palestinian human rights group Adalah contesting the new law.

The court did note that the legislation “prohibits Unrwa activity only on the sovereign territory of the state of Israel”, but did not prohibit such activity in Gaza and the West Bank. The ban does apply, however, to the Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, where Unrwa has a field headquarters for its operations in the West Bank.

About 25 international staff left on Wednesday after Israel refused to issue visas or extend existing ones. International staff make up about 2% of the agency’s workforce. “The headquarters is still there, and flag is still up,” said Juliette Touma, an Unrwa spokesperson.

“It’s a UN compound which means it must be protected. We don’t have plans to close our operations,” she said, adding that its work in the West Bank and Gaza was continuing. “But we are in the dark. We have not received any instructions from Israel how the ban will be enforced beyond being told to vacate.”