Israeli forces stormed UN refugee agency building in East Jerusalem

Israeli authorities entered the offices of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency in East Jerusalem on Monday and raised the Israeli flag, in a raid they said was ordered for unpaid taxes but condemned by the agency as a violation of international law.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has been accused of bias by Israel, has not used the building since the beginning of this year after Israel ordered it to vacate all its facilities and cease operations.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the raid.

“This compound remains a United Nations facility and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference,” Guterres said in a statement. “I urge Israel to immediately take all necessary measures to restore, preserve and maintain the inviolability of UNRWA facilities and to refrain from any further action against UNRWA facilities.”

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote in X that Israel’s move could set “a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present around the world.”

Raid ordered for ‘significant debt’.

The Jerusalem municipality said debt collectors entered the UNRWA compound for unpaid property taxes of 11 million shekels ($3.4 million) after multiple warnings and all necessary procedures were followed.

“This is a significant debt that required collection after repeated requests, warnings and many opportunities given to settle it, which were not answered,” he told Reuters.

UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said the East Jerusalem compound remained a UN facility despite an Israeli ban on its activities and that the agency owed no debt to the municipality.

The UN had contacted Israeli authorities several times to remind them of their obligations under a UN convention to which Israel is a signatory, he said.

An Israeli government spokesman did not respond to questions about the raid but reiterated Israel’s criticism of the group. The United Nations has said some of its staff may be involved in the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel.

“We know that UNRWA has been a stain on the United Nations,” said the spokesman, Sosh Bedrossian. “There is a direct link between UNRWA and Hamas inside Gaza, with almost every terrorist who crossed into Israeli territory to commit genocidal acts against our people on October 7 actually a graduate of the UNRWA school.”

Lazzarini said police motorcycles and trucks and forklifts were lifted and communications were cut. IT equipment, furniture and other property were seized, he said.

The UN General Assembly renewed the mandate of UNRWA, first established in 1949, for another three years on Friday. Fowler declined to speculate on the timing of the raid.

He said Israel had waged a “sustained disinformation campaign” against UNRWA, whose responsibilities it wants other UN bodies to take over.

Palestinians see the existence of UNRWA as being involved in preserving their rights as refugees, particularly their hope of returning to homes from which they or their ancestors fled or were expelled in the 1948 war for the creation of Israel.

Israeli criticism

Israel has alleged that some UNRWA personnel were members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and participated in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 Israelis and led to Israel’s war against Hamas, in which Gaza authorities say more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed.

UNRWA fired several of its staff but said Israel had not provided evidence of all the allegations against its staff.

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

UNRWA operates in East Jerusalem, which the UN considers Israeli-occupied territory. Israel considers all of Jerusalem part of the country.

Israel officially annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East War. The UN and most countries consider East Jerusalem to be occupied by Israel.

UNRWA is also active in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Middle East, providing education, health care, social services and shelter to millions of Palestinians.