Israel this week began demolishing the east Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, in what U.N. officials said was an unprecedented attack on the humanitarian agency.
Israel sent bulldozers and other heavy equipment Tuesday into the U.N. compound following passage of legislative measures in the Knesset accusing UNRWA of colluding with Hamas while its staffers took part in terrorist activity.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government accused UNRWA of acting as a “greenhouse for Hamas terrorism” rather than a humanitarian aid organization.
“UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 [2023] massacre and kidnappings,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said this week in a statement. “UNRWA infrastructure was used for Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorist activity, rocket fire, and tunnels.”
UNRWA chief Phillipe Lazzarini called the move “an open and deliberate defiance of international law” by Israel.
“Like all UN member states and countries committed to the international rule-based order, Israel is obliged to protect and respect the inviolability of U.N. premises,” Mr. Lazzarini said Tuesday in a statement. “Water [and] power supplies to UNRWA facilities, including health and education buildings, are also scheduled to be cut in the coming weeks.”
Israeli officials said UNRWA ceased its operations at the east Jerusalem site before the first bulldozer arrived and had no staffers working there.
“The compound does not enjoy any immunity, and the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Tuesday in a statement. The action “does not constitute a new policy, but rather the implementation of existing Israeli legislation concerning UNRWA.”
