Roland Friedrich, the agency’s director in the West Bank, called the demolition political.
Friedrich told AFP, “it seems the intent is to seize the land for settlement construction as has openly been stated by Israeli officials for many years in the media and elsewhere”.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority warned of the “gravity of this deliberate escalation against UNRWA”.
AFP photos showed heavy machinery demolishing structures at the compound, as an Israeli flag fluttered overhead.
An AFP photographer reported that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir briefly visited the site.
“This is a historic day, a day of celebration and a very important day for governance in Jerusalem,” Ben Gvir was quoted as saying in a statement.
“For years, these supporters of terrorism were here, and today they are being removed from here with everything they built in this place. This is what will happen to every supporter of terrorism,” he added.
Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, claiming that some of its employees took part in the group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
A series of investigations, including one led by France’s former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some “neutrality-related issues” at UNRWA but stressed Israel had not provided conclusive evidence for its headline allegation.
‘No immunity’
An Israeli foreign ministry statement defended the demolitions and said “the State of Israel owns the Jerusalem compound”.
The compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has been empty of UNRWA staff since January 2024, when a law banning its operations took effect after a months-long battle over its work in Gaza.
“UNRWA-Hamas had already ceased its operations at this site and no longer had any UN personnel or UN activity there,” the foreign ministry said.
“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,” it said.
UNRWA’s Friedrich said the UN rejected the Israeli claim and insisted that the compound “remains United Nations property and is protected by the privileges and immunities of the UN, regardless of whether it is currently in use”.
Although the UNRWA ban applies in east Jerusalem because of its annexation by Israel, the agency still operates in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X that the demolition was yet another attempt by “Israeli authorities to erase the Palestine Refugee identity”.
As the UN agency created specifically for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948, UNRWA provides refugee status registration, as well as health and education services for Palestinian refugees.
With refugee status, which is passed on through generations, comes the right of return, which Israel contests, and is one of the most contentious issues for a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Months after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli authorities declared Guterres and Lazzarini personae non gratae in Israel.
Jordan’s foreign ministry “strongly condemned” the demolition, calling it “a blatant violation of international law”.
The Saudi foreign ministry also voiced its “strongest condemnation”.
The UNRWA compound was a prison during the time of the Ottoman Empire, and later became property of the Jordanian Government, which subsequently transferred it to UNRWA.
- Agence France-Presse
