UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed on Tuesday that "UNRWA is indispensable and irreplaceable."

Speaking to the press at UN headquarters in New York, Guterres said he had written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his deep concern about the bill, which could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the occupied Palestinian territory. He stressed that such a measure would stifle efforts to alleviate humanitarian suffering and tensions in Gaza, and in the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole.

"It would be a disaster," he added, asking: "Let's be clear in practical terms, what would such a measure mean? In practical terms, this legislation is likely to deal a devastating blow to the international humanitarian response in Gaza."

“Without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter and health care to most of the population of Gaza will cease,” the Secretary-General stressed, adding that “without UNRWA, Gaza’s 660,000 children will lose the only entity capable of resuming education, risking the fate of an entire generation.” Many health, education and social services will also end in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Guterres warned that "if this legislation is approved, it would be completely contrary to the United Nations Charter and would violate Israel's obligations under international law."

He added that "politically, such legislation would constitute a huge setback to sustainable peace efforts and the two-state solution, leading to further instability and insecurity."

Guterres spoke about the situation in Gaza, describing it as "horrible and abhorrent," as this was "the year of crises," and described what was happening as a "humanitarian, political, diplomatic, and moral crisis."

Guterres stressed: "We cannot and will not abandon our calls for irreversible action towards a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine," saying: "All peoples of the region deserve to live in peace."

The so-called "Foreign Affairs and Security" Committee in the Israeli "Knesset" approved last Sunday a bill to ban the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Israel. The committee's approval of the bill means referring it to a vote in the second and third readings in the Knesset plenum to become an effective law.