Jerusalem (AP) — Israeli forces targeted at least two United Nations facilities on Tuesday, continuing a crackdown on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees tasked with providing humanitarian services to millions of people in the region.
Crews began bulldozing the offices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Sheikh Jarrah and fired tear gas into a vocational school in Qalandia, marking Israel’s latest and most dramatic move against UNRWA.
Roland Friedrich, the agency’s West Bank director, said UNRWA had received word that demolition crews and police had arrived at their headquarters in East Jerusalem early Tuesday. Personnel have not operated outside the center for nearly a year for security reasons, but Israeli forces have confiscated the devices and forced private security guards hired to protect the facility.
“What we saw today is the culmination of two years of incitement and measures against UNRWA in East Jerusalem,” Friedrich said, calling it a violation of international law that guarantees the protection of these facilities.
He said forces also began firing tear gas into the vocational school for Palestinian youth on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon. More than 300 young refugees receive vocational training in technology and welding there.
Some children on their way home from school were overwhelmed by tear gas, and a 15-year-old boy was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet, according to the Palestinian Authority government in Jerusalem, which monitors Palestinian affairs in the area.
Israeli leaders celebrate the demolition
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the demolition prompted a new law barring UNRWA, noting that Israel owns the site and rejecting UNRWA claims that the move violated international law.
Israel has long claimed the agency has an anti-Israel bias, often with little evidence. UNRWA is said to employ and maintain links with militant groups, including Hamas. The UN vehemently denied such claims and UNRWA said it was moving quickly to purge any suspected militants from its staff.
UNRWA’s mandate is to provide aid and services to approximately 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as an additional 3 million refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The group has been maintaining infrastructure in refugee camps for years and also runs schools and provides medical assistance. But its operations were curtailed last year when the Israeli Knesset passed legislation severing ties and barring it from operating in what Israel defines, including East Jerusalem.
The agency said the demolitions could jeopardize operations at its professional center in Qalandia and the health facility in Shua’fat, where it continues to provide education and health services.
An Israeli flag was seen flying over the facility in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where some Israeli politicians arrived on the scene to celebrate the organization’s fate. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it “a historic day”.
“This must be a wake-up call”
The demolition marked the culmination of years of criticism from Israel and its leaders, who say UNRWA has pro-Palestinian leanings and maintains ties to or employs members of militant groups such as Hamas.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than two years ago, it has stepped up such attacks, accusing UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas and saying militants have used its facilities and seized aid. It provided little evidence for the claims, which the UN denied. The International Court of Justice said in October that Israel must allow the agency to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
Since Israel passed the law banning the agency last year, its facilities — schools and health centers — and its headquarters have been repeatedly closed, raided or left unguarded. Israel has argued that the agency perpetuates the refugee status of Palestinians, while UNRWA supporters have said that Israel’s attacks on the agency are aimed at downplaying the issue – one of the most contentious that divides Israelis and Palestinians.
“This comes on the heels of other measures taken by the Israeli authorities to erase the identity of Palestinian refugees,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement at X. “This should be a wake-up call. What happens to UNRWA today will happen tomorrow to any other international organization or diplomatic mission, whether it is in Palestinian territory or anywhere in the world.”
Record lists of names
Under President Donald Trump, the United States cut funding for the agency in 2018. President Joe Biden restored it in 2021 and later cut off funding in 2024.
Israel’s ban on UNRWA coincided with broader efforts to deregister aid groups operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has passed laws requiring non-governmental organizations not to hire staff involved in activities that “delegitimize Israel” or support boycotts, requiring them to register lists of names as a condition of being able to work.
Israel has told dozens of groups – including Doctors Without Borders and CARE – that their licenses will expire at the end of 2025. The organizations say the rules are arbitrary and have warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
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