U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres says he’s written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning him against dismantling the U.N. agency tasked with providing food, healthcare and social services to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Two bills under consideration in Israel’s parliament would prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work. Guterres said passage of the legislation would “be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster.”

Secretary-General António Guterres: “Without UNRWA, the delivery of food, shelter and healthcare to most of Gaza’s population would grind to a halt. Without UNRWA, Gaza’s 660,000 children would lose the only entity that is able to restart education, risking the fate of an entire generation. And without UNRWA, many health, education and social services would also end in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”