Israel Bulldozes UNRWA Buildings In Occupied East Jerusalem

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Israel demolished structures inside the UN Palestinian refugee agency's East Jerusalem compound yesterday after ‌seizing the site last year, in ‍an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law.

Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound, where dozens of agency staff once worked.

UNRWA, which Israeli authorities accuse of bias, has ‍not used the building since the start of last year after Israel ordered it to vacate all its premises and cease its operations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel's action yesterday.

“The secretary-general urges the government of Israel to immediately cease the demolition of the UNRWA Sheikh Jarrah compound, and to return and restore the compound and other UNRWA premises to the United

Nations without delay,” deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

A spokesperson for UNRWA, Jonathan Fowler, said Israeli forces entered the ‌compound around 7am (0500GMT), forced out the compound's security guards and then brought in bulldozers to begin demolishing buildings inside.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini condemned the demolition in a statement on X, calling it“a new level of open ‍and deliberate defiance of international law”.

He said it was the latest ‌in a series of Israeli actions against UNRWA, including a raid on a medical clinic this month and a plan to cut power and water to UNRWA facilities in the coming weeks.

Some former UNRWA staff said the structures demolished yesterday had been used to store aid for the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“The destruction 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 UNRWA chief of staff in East Jerusalem.

Israel's parliament passed a law in October 2024 banning the agency from operating in the country and prohibiting officials from having contact with the agency.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a ​video on social media standing in front ‌of the UNRWA compound as a bulldozer began to tear it down.

In his statement, Lazzarini said that Israel had ​conducted“a large-scale disinformation campaign” against UNRWA.

Israel's Jerusalem municipality raided the compound last year, saying UNRWA had failed to pay property taxes after multiple warnings.

UNRWA said the agency had no debts to the municipality.

Meanwhile, Palestinian officials and civil institutions yesterday called out the takeover of the UNRWA premises by the Israeli occupation.

In a statement, the institutions slammed the razing operations carried out by Israeli bulldozers at the main UNRWA building.

The statement deemed the razing and raiding operations, as well as the displaying of Israeli might, as a move intended to eliminate the agency's operations and the right of Palestinian refugees to return under UN Resolution 194.

These operations are part of the ongoing episodes by the Israeli occupation targeting Palestinian tents in the northern West Bank, the statement acknowledged.

It called on the world to spring into action to halt these crimes and amplify the voice of the UN, which founded the agency and has been operating under its umbrella for 77 years.

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