Newsletters
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday strongly condemned Israeli authorities for forcibly entering a United Nations compound in East Jerusalem used by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), stressing that U.N. property is “inviolable.”
“I strongly condemn today’s unauthorized entry into the United Nations Sheikh Jarrah compound held by UNRWA located in occupied East Jerusalem by Israeli authorities,” Guterres said in a statement. “This compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference.”
Guterres said that “any executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action against United Nations property and assets is prohibited under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations,” a principle upheld by the International Court of Justice.
He called on Israel “to immediately take all necessary steps to restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises,” and urged it to “refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises, in line with its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and its other obligations under international law.”
According to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the compound Monday morning.
“Police motorcycles, as well as trucks and forklifts, were brought in and all communications were cut. Furniture, IT equipment and other property was seized. The U.N. flag was pulled down and replaced with an Israeli flag,” Lazzarini wrote on X.
Lazzarini has been declared persona non grata by Israel and UNRWA has been banned from operating inside Israeli territory since early 2024.
Israeli police told AFP that the operation was “carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure.” Police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said the action was related to unpaid Arnona taxes, a municipal levy charged for services in Israeli-administered areas.
However, UNRWA officials strongly rejected that claim.
“There is no debt because the United Nations — and UNRWA is part of the United Nations and is a U.N. agency — is not required to pay any kind of taxes of that kind under international law and under the law that Israel itself has adopted,” said Roland Friedrich, UNRWA’s director for the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry also condemned the incident, calling it “a blatant violation of international law and a breach of the immunities and privileges granted to U.N. organizations.”
Spokesman Fuad al-Majali said Jordan “rejects and strongly condemns Israel's continued systematic campaign to restrict UNRWA and undermine its vital and irreplaceable role in providing services to Palestinian refugees.”
1 min read
Though UNRWA has been barred from operating in East Jerusalem since January 2024, it continues to provide services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
“Whatever action taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a U.N. premises, immune from any form of interference,” Lazzarini said.
The Sheikh Jarrah compound has been empty of UNRWA staff since January, when the Israeli government enforced a ban on its operations in East Jerusalem. The move followed Israeli allegations that some UNRWA staff participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
A series of international investigations found some “neutrality-related issues” at the agency, but said Israel had not provided conclusive evidence supporting its claims. Nevertheless, the U.N. said in August that nine staff members would be terminated for possible involvement in the attacks.
UNRWA, established over 70 years ago by the U.N. General Assembly, was created to support Palestinians displaced from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It has faced mounting financial pressure and political challenges since Israel escalated efforts to restrict its operations and defund its services in the occupied territories.
1 min read
