Roland Friedrich, UNRWA’s director for the West Bank, said the agency was informed that Israeli demolition crews and police arrived at its East Jerusalem headquarters early on Tuesday.
Staff have not operated from the facility for nearly a year due to security threats and incitement, as the Israeli forces entered the site, confiscated equipment, and removed the private security personnel hired to guard the premises.
“What we saw today is the culmination of two years of incitement and measures against UNRWA in East Jerusalem,” Friedrich said, calling this a violation of international law guaranteeing such facilities' protection.
An Israeli flag was raised over the facility in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, where some Israeli politicians reportedly gathered to mark the demolition.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video on social media showing himself in front of the UNRWA compound as a bulldozer began demolishing the site, describing the event as “a historic day” and “a holiday.”
Former UNRWA staff said the structures demolished on Tuesday had been used to store humanitarian aid intended for the West Bank and Gaza.
"The destruction today by the Israeli occupation is another message to the world that Israel is the only country that can demolish international law and get away with it," said Hakam Shahwan, former chief of staff at UNRWA's East Jerusalem headquarters.
Israel has for years advanced false allegations against the UNRWA in a sustained effort to discredit its work and weaken its mandate. UNRWA provides essential assistance to millions of Palestinian refugees and plays a central role in upholding their internationally recognized refugee status.
The demolition followed years of sustained, politically driven attacks by Israel and senior Israeli officials against UNRWA, including accusations of pro-Palestinian bias and allegations that some staff members had links to groups such as Hamas.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza more than two years ago, these accusations have intensified into a broader campaign to delegitimize and dismantle UNRWA. Israel has provided little publicly verifiable evidence to support these claims, which both UNRWA and the United Nations have firmly denied.
A UN internal investigation conducted by the Office of Internal Oversight Services found insufficient evidence to substantiate the vast majority of Israel’s allegations against UNRWA staff, while one claim was found to be entirely unsubstantiated.
The investigation also found no evidence to support Israel’s broader claims that UNRWA has institutional ties to militant groups.
In October, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to allow UNRWA to continue delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza, underscoring the agency’s indispensable role as Israel’s genocidal war has pushed the territory into humanitarian collapse.
UNRWA’s mandate includes providing aid and services to around 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem, as well as an additional three million refugees in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. The agency operates schools, health centres, and infrastructure in refugee camps across the region.
However, its work was severely restricted in 2025 after Israel’s Knesset passed legislation severing ties with UNRWA and banning its operations in areas Israel defines as part of its territory, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Since the law was passed, UNRWA facilities, including schools, health centres, and its headquarters, have repeatedly been closed, raided, or left without protection.
The agency warned that the demolitions could affect operations at its vocational training centre in Qalandia and its health facility in Shua’fat, where it continues to provide education and medical services.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, said the move was part of a broader effort by Israeli authorities to “erase the Palestine refugee identity.”
“This must be a wake-up call,” he wrote on X. “What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world.”
Echoing those concerns, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed his “outrage” at the incident. “It compounds what we’ve been seeing for a while; attacking aid groups and UN actors who are trying to help,” said his spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani.
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network also condemned the seizure and demolition of UNRWA’s headquarters in occupied Jerusalem as “a new crime by the Israeli occupation.” It said the raid was part of “ongoing attempts to dismantle UNRWA’s operations and eliminate the right of return for Palestinian refugees, guaranteed by UN Resolution 194.”
The network called for “immediate international action to stop these crimes,” urging protection for UNRWA’s staff and warning that the destruction or loss of documents and archives could “deprive the refugee population of their rights.”
The Jerusalem Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization said the raid constituted a “serious and deliberate attack on a UN agency enjoying international immunity.” It cited the demolition of structures inside the compound and the raising of Israeli flags over the site in Sheikh Jarrah.
The department said the incident “cannot be separated from systematic Israeli policies aimed at undermining UNRWA’s role and erasing the Palestinian refugee issue.” It added that these policies seek to deny Palestinians’ historical and legal rights, “foremost among them the right of return,” of which UNRWA is “a key international witness.
Israel’s ban on UNRWA has unfolded alongside broader efforts to restrict humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli authorities have notified dozens of aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders and CARE, that their licences will expire at the end of 2025, a move the organizations say would further choke off life-saving assistance for a population that has already endured famine and mass hunger due to Israel’s blockade and restrictions on aid.
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