Israel: 'No decision' yet on whether to expel UN peace envoy

Israel has made “no decision” about whether or not to expel UN Middle East peace envoy from the country, the foreign ministry announced on Sunday.

The Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has threatened to expel and ban Robert Serry from Israel after the UN representative offered to help transfer $20m from Qatar to the Palestinian Authority, in order to resolve a pay crisis for Hamas employees in Gaza.

On Sunday, Lieberman was supposed to have held an emergency meeting to impose “tough measures” on Serry but according to a spokesperson from his ministry, “no decision was taken.”

According to a report on Israel’s Channel Two television, Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas refused to sanction the funds being transferred, leading Lieberman to accuse Serry of offering the UN's help to make the transfer.

Serry rejected the allegations, saying in a statement that the Palestinian Authority had approached him "informally" on the matter.

"In considering any UN role on the issue of payments of salaries in Gaza, that has potentially destabilising effects on security in Gaza, I made it clear that we would only be able to be of assistance if [this was] acceptable to all stakeholders, including Israel," he said, while adding that Israel had been kept informed of all discussions.

The controversy has been heightened by the continuing hunt for three missing Israeli teens, whom the Israeli government accuses Hamas of kidnapping, an allegation Hamas denies.

Serry has been a critic of what he perceives as Israel’s extortionate and indiscriminate campaign in the West Bank to retrieve the missing teens, although he has called for the teenagers who went missing near the controversial Gush Etzion settlement block to be returned.

“The United Nations understands that these security operations and tightened restrictions on movement throughout and in and out of the West Bank are part of all possible efforts by Israel to bring the three youth’s home safely,” Serry said in a statement. “We continue to call for their immediate release.

He added: “At the same time we call for restraint and expect Israel to carry out the related security operations in compliance with international law and respect for the lives, dignity and livelihoods of Palestinians. [Israel] should thus seek to minimise the impact of security operations on individuals who have committed no offense and investigate allegations of excessive use of force, including the killing of civilians.”