Israeli occupation authorities carried out demolition operations on Tuesday morning inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. The demolition was overseen by Israeli occupation ’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who personally stormed the site accompanied by bulldozers and heavily armed forces, sealing off the surrounding streets.
The demolition led to the destruction of facilities and mobile offices within the compound. In a symbolic and provocative act, the Israeli occupation’s flag was raised over the UNRWA premises, constituting a flagrant violation of international legal norms and the immunity granted to UN institutions.
The UNRWA compound in Jerusalem is situated in the occupied Palestinian territories and is protected under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, which prohibits any administrative, judicial, or enforcement actions against UN premises. This legal protection has been reaffirmed multiple times by the International Court of Justice. Consequently, the occupying power has no legal sovereignty over Palestinian territories or international institutions operating within them, including UNRWA.
This act forms part of a broader, escalating campaign against the UN agency. In recent months, UNRWA has faced electricity and water cuts at several of its facilities, temporary closures of health centres, orchestrated attacks on its property, and a media and legislative incitement campaign aimed at undermining its operations.
UNRWA serves approximately 192,000 Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem, playing a crucial role in providing essential services such as education, healthcare, and emergency relief. The occupation’s continued interference hampers the agency’s ability to fulfil its UN-mandated mission and places full legal and humanitarian responsibility on the Israeli occupation for the consequences of these violations, especially in light of its ongoing efforts to erase the refugee issue and their right of return.
This escalation is part of a sustained Israeli occupation’s policy aimed at dismantling humanitarian institutions in the occupied territories and altering the demographic reality in East Jerusalem, in clear violation of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions and the international obligations to protect civilians and humanitarian facilities.
This incident calls for immediate international intervention to uphold the legal immunity of UN institutions, ensure the continued delivery of humanitarian services to Palestinian refugees, and prevent the occupation from further infringing upon their fundamental rights to safety, dignity, and basic services.
