The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli police stormed its East Jerusalem compound early Monday, marking a sharp escalation in Israel’s effort to dismantle UNRWA operations across its territory. In a statement, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that “sizeable numbers” of Israeli security forces — including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts — forcibly entered its headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, cutting the compound’s communications.
Photographs show police inside the facility and an Israeli flag raised on the building’s rooftop. UNRWA condemned the action as “an unacceptable violation” of the agency’s diplomatic protections under international law. Israeli police, however, claimed the operation was tied to a municipal “debt-collection procedure.” Jerusalem city officials did not respond to requests for clarification. The raid is the latest step in Israel’s longstanding campaign to sideline UNRWA, which provides education, food, medical support and social services to more than 2.5 million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and an additional 3 million across Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Created after the 1948 war, UNRWA exists to support Palestinians displaced or expelled at Israel’s founding — a mandate Israeli nationalists have long opposed, arguing the refugee issue should be resolved through permanent resettlement elsewhere. During the Israel-Hamas war, UNRWA functioned as the main aid lifeline for civilians in Gaza, where bombardment, infrastructure collapse and tight border controls created an overwhelming humanitarian emergency. Israel has accused the agency of harboring Hamas operatives — claims the U.N. strongly rejects — and formally banned UNRWA from
Israeli territory in January following months of pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners. The U.S., once UNRWA’s largest financial contributor, halted its funding in 2024, forcing the agency into severe operational strain. Other U.N. bodies, including UNICEF and the World Food Programme, have been partially filling the gap, though UNRWA officials insist its role cannot be replaced. UNRWA closed the Jerusalem compound in May after far-right activists, including a sitting member of Israel’s Parliament, forced their way through the front gate.
Some Israeli officials have since advocated converting the property into Jewish housing. The country’s housing minister said he instructed staff to study how to “return the area to the state of Israel and utilize it for housing.” UNRWA leaders, excluded from current U.S.-led ceasefire negotiations, warn that the campaign to displace the agency risks wiping out core refugee protections without any workable humanitarian alternative.
