The chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warns that an impending Israeli ban on the agency would have disastrous consequences for its work in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Philippe Lazzarini claims that the ban would heighten instability and deepen despair in the occupied Palestinian territory, undermine the ceasefire in Gaza, and sabotage the enclave's recovery and political transition. Israel accuses UNRWA of undermining its security and being infiltrated by Hamas and other terror groups, and plans to cease all contact with the agency. The ban would forbid UNRWA from operating within the sovereign territory of Israel and terminate all collaboration and communication with the agency.