Implementation of a ban on the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA in Israel - due to start on Thursday - will be disastrous, the UNRWA chief told the Security Council on Tuesday, as the United States accused it of being "irresponsible and dangerous.

Israel’s parliament passed two laws last year that will cripple the aid agency's ability to aid Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said the implementation of a ban on the agency's operations inside Israel would cripple its ability to work in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where a fragile ceasefire currently remains in place.

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 head of UNRWA on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to stop Israel from enforcing a ban that will prevent the UN Palestinian aid agency from operating in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, two days before it is set to take effect.