The Israeli occupation army demolished facilities inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday and raised the Israeli flag over the compound, in what the agency described as an unprecedented assault on a UN site.
The demolition took place at UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of northern Jerusalem, where Israeli bulldozers continued tearing down structures inside the compound as soldiers hoisted the Israeli flag overhead.
In a statement posted on X on Tuesday afternoon, UNRWA said the move marked “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, by the State of Israel.”
“Early this morning, Israeli forces stormed the UNRWA Headquarters, a United Nations site, in East Jerusalem,” the agency said.
UNRWA provides education, healthcare and humanitarian assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
“Bulldozers entered the compound and began demolishing buildings inside it under the watch of lawmakers and a member of the government. This constitutes an unprecedented attack against a United Nations agency and its premises,” UNRWA said.
The agency stressed that Israel is obligated to protect and respect the inviolability of UN buildings, as required of all UN member states under the rules-based international order.
The attack follows a series of Israeli measures aimed at erasing the identity of Palestinian refugees. On Jan. 14, Israeli forces raided an UNRWA health center in occupied East Jerusalem and ordered its closure, according to the statement.
UNRWA said these actions, “together with previous arson attacks and a large-scale disinformation campaign,” violate a ruling issued by the International Court of Justice in October, which reaffirmed that Israel is obligated under international law to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not obstruct or prevent them. The court also stressed that Israel has no legal jurisdiction over occupied East Jerusalem, according to the statement.
Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel’s decision to cut electricity and water to UNRWA facilities, warning that the move would undermine the agency’s ability to carry out its humanitarian mission.
For its part, the Jerusalem Affairs Department said Israeli machinery, accompanied by what it described as the so-called Israel Land Authority, demolished mobile offices inside the UNRWA compound, calling the move “a dangerous escalation and a direct attack on a UN agency enjoying international legal immunity.”
The department said Israeli forces lowered the United Nations flag and raised the flag of the occupying state inside the compound, claiming the structures lacked permits, in what it described as a flagrant violation of the sanctity of international institutions.
Meanwhile, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversaw the demolition, hailed the operation. “This is a historic day, a day of celebration, and a day of great importance for asserting Israeli rule over Jerusalem for many years to come. These supporters of terrorism were here, and today they are expelled along with everything they built. This is what will happen to anyone who supports terrorism,” he said.
At the end of October, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, overwhelmingly passed two laws banning UNRWA’s operations in areas under Israeli control and severing diplomatic relations with the agency.
Israeli attacks on UNRWA have intensified sharply since the start of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, beginning with tenuous accusations that UNRWA employees took part in Al-Aqsa Flood operation on Oct. 7, and extending to the repeated targeting of UNRWA-run schools.
The move to cut basic utilities comes as Israel has suspended work permits for 37 international non-governmental organizations operating in Gaza, effective Tuesday, with their operations set to cease within 60 days, citing alleged noncompliance with new registration rules.
Among the affected aid groups are ActionAid, the International Rescue Committee, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
