In a health centre in the Shu'fat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, Sufaa Ayad is clutching her nine-month-old daughter.
Brave little Wateen is due for some of her vaccinations, but her mother is worried about where she will get her next shots.
"They said they are going to shut the centre," 30 year old Sufaa said.
"At the age of one, Wateen needs to take a vaccine … I came here to ask where to go to.
"We are anxious because of the vaccine, and we already suffered from a shortage of vaccine earlier this month."
About a dozen women, many with young children in tow, were inside the centre.
The staff said people coming through in recent days were full of questions about how much longer the doors would be open.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, known as UNRWA, runs the clinic and two neighbouring schools.
But as of Thursday, it is banned from operating in Israel, and Israeli officials are prohibited from dealing with UNRWA staff in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The laws effectively smother the organisation's operations, and fuel concerns over who will provide services for the 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees.
"This is an absolutely desperate situation," UNRWA Jerusalem spokesperson Jonathan Fowler told the ABC.
"It's perfectly scandalous that a UN member state, the state of Israel, chooses to undo the mandate of an organisation which is mandated by the UN General Assembly to do a job.
"So it's legally unacceptable, absolutely shocking, and the implications for the services we provide are going to be extremely serious."
Mr Fowler said there were no other organisations, even within the United Nations, which could step in and fill the void.
"The system was not broken, it's now potentially going to get broken because of a law which is then imposed upon us, that we're not able to operate," he said.
"There were reports in the Israeli media that the Palestine Red Crescent Society had been given the tender, as it were, to replace us as a health actor and to replace our health system in East Jerusalem.
"Well, this was completely denied by the Palestine Red Crescent Society — so there's a lot of sort of misinformation flying around."
Israeli politicians describe UNRWA as an arm of Hamas
The criticism of UNRWA from the Israeli government and parliament, the Knesset, has been relentless since October 7.
It was alleged UNRWA staff had helped Hamas conduct the deadly attacks on Israel, which killed almost 1,200 people and served as the catalyst for the war in Gaza.
9 UNRWA staff were stood down, but an investigation by the UN said Israel had failed to provide sufficient evidence to back up its claim the agency was rotten to the core.
"UNRWA has been infested with terror," Israeli politician Dan Illouz said.
"This was just the tip of the iceberg — UNRWA as an organisation has been educating for hate for a long time, it's not just since October 7."
Mr Illouz cited reports that recently returned Israeli hostages had said they were held by Hamas in UN facilities in Gaza, including UNRWA buildings.
In a discussion in the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, the United States also raised those reports and backed Israel's ability to impose the ban.
The country's deputy ambassador to the UN took aim at the organisation's response to the policy.
"UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous," Dorothy Shea said.
Mr Illouz, who is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, said other agencies could and should step up — dismissing UNRWA's argument no other organisation had the resources to do so.
"This is an argument that UNRWA goes over and over and over again in order to say that they're indispensable," he said.
"But the truth is that there are other conflict zones around the world and in these other conflict zones, these humanitarian organisations know how to deal with these things without UNRWA, and they'll be able to do it also in these areas if needed.
"If you really care about the Palestinians, if you actually want to help the civilians in the conflict zones that are Palestinians, then you should bring your aid through other channels."
He argued the ceasefire in Gaza would give other organisations a good opportunity to bolster their services.
Uncertainty abounds over how ban will be enforced
The ban makes it quite clear that UNRWA will not be able to operate within Israel.
That includes East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed and claimed as its own territory decades ago.
For the staff at the health clinic in Shu'fat, they said they would continue turning up to work until Israeli authorities stopped them.
In the West Bank and Gaza, the situation is less clear.
The ban means Israeli officials will be stopped from having any interactions with UNRWA staff.
Given Israel currently controls all entry points into the West Bank and Gaza, that will mean UNRWA may have to rely on third parties as intermediaries.
In East Jerusalem, UNRWA's compound is already effectively shuttered.
Equipment such as vehicles have been removed, transferred to the West Bank.
International staff have had to leave after their visas were cancelled.
Many boarded buses, in tears, where they were driven to the Jordanian capital Amman, to try to work remotely.
The bulk of the agency's staff are Palestinian — many joining the organisation after being supported by it as refugees themselves.
"The atmosphere — I mean, it's gloomy," Jonathan Fowler said.
"It's not the first time that this organisation has faced challenges, so we are adaptable.
"But this is the first time we've faced something of this scale and this level of existential threat for us."
Violence against UNRWA staff in Israel
In recent months, the East Jerusalem compound has faced arson attacks and staff have been assaulted by extremists picketing the site.
"Nothing here in the operation in East Jerusalem compares to what has happened to our staff in Gaza," Mr Fowler said.
"We have had over 270 of our staff have been killed in Gaza, and that is an unprecedented figure in the history of the United Nations … it's absolutely shocking.
"That is simply appalling — the disregard for the sort of sanctity of UN buildings, you know, that protection under the UN flag."
Mr Illouz said the flaws in the organisation should never had led to violence against its staff in Israel.
"Harassing people, any people, even people who I completely disagree with is definitely not something that is legal in Israel," he said.
Right-wing groups are planning rallies outside the East Jerusalem compound's walls on Thursday, celebrating the departure of staff and the closure of its operations.
