54That interpretation is also supported by the case-law according to which, in the event that a person who has left the UNRWA area of operations and lodged an application for international protection in the European Union benefits from effective protection or assistance from UNRWA in that area, enabling him or her to reside there in safety, under dignified living conditions and without being at risk of being refouled to the territory of habitual residence for as long as he or she is unable to return there in safety, that person cannot be regarded by the authority empowered to decide on that application as having been forced, by reason of circumstances beyond his or her control, to leave UNRWA’s area of operations. That person must, in that case, be excluded from refugee status in the European Union, in accordance with Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2011/95 (judgment of 25 July 2018, Alheto, C‑585/16, EU:C:2018:584, paragraph 134).
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