The UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees expressed concern on Friday over moves by the mayor of Jerusalem to close down its operations in the city. Mayor Nir Barkat said on Thursday he had developed a plan to end the Jerusalem operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinians displaced by the 1948 war of Israel’s founding and to millions of their descendants and to replace them with Israeli services. UNRWA, in a statement, said it “expresses its concern about recent statements made by the mayor of Jerusalem on its operations and installations in East Jerusalem.” "Such messaging challenges the core principles of impartial and independent humanitarian action and does not reflect the robust and structured dialogue and interaction that UNRWA and the State of Israel have traditionally maintained," the agency said. “It conducts humanitarian operations in conformity with the UN Charter, bilateral and multilateral agreements that continue in force and relevant General Assembly resolutions,” it explained. Barakat, who is set to step down following municipal elections at the end of the month, said that under his plan the municipality would take over education, welfare and health services. “We provide services for all residents alike - there are no refugees in our city,” he said. The municipality did not provide an exact timeline, but it said schools serving 1,800 students would be closed by the end of the current school year. Created in 1949, UNRWA supplies aid to more than three million of the five million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and territories assigned to the Palestinian Authority. It runs Shuafat refugee camp, which was founded in 1965 and is home to some 20,000 residents. The agency also has five schools in Jerusalem in addition to a medical center. It provides health, financial and social services for refugees. The number of refugees registered with UNRWA in Jerusalem is about 100,000.