The United Nations has accused Israel of “an unprecedented attack” after diggers started demolition work at a compound used for decades by UNRWA, the UN agency that provides support to Palestinian refugees.
Heavy machinery smashed through structures on the site, including a former barracks building, as part of a plan to level the compound and eventually turn it into a new Israeli settlement.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s uncompromising national security minister, visited the site during the demolition work and was clearly proud of what was being done, describing it as “a very important day for the governance in Jerusalem”.
He went on to claim that United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were “supporters of terror”.
The Israeli government has long alleged that the agency was “infested” with members of Hamas, including some who participated in the devastating attacks on 7 October 2023.
UNRWA has always denied any systemic link to Hamas, and says it has investigated all alleged wrongdoing. In a statement, it said the demolition was “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law”.
The site, in East Jerusalem, had been used by UNRWA since 1951, shortly after the agency was first established.
However, Israel introduced legislation in 2024 to ban UNRWA’s operations, leading to staff leaving the compound, which includes a series of buildings, a year ago.
The ban is widely contested outside Israel as a breach of both international law and the UN charter, which dictates that member states must work with UN agencies and respect their premises.
The United Nations maintains that, under a 1946 charter, sites like this are “inviolable” – in other words, they cannot be entered without the permission of the UN.
However, the Israeli government has claimed that UNRWA represents a danger to the state and cannot be tolerated.
‘Greenhouse for terrorism’
Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for the Israeli foreign affairs minister, claimed that “numerous employees within the organisation are Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists” and said that UNRWA has degraded from a humanitarian aid organisation into “a greenhouse for terrorism”.
Israel’s foreign ministry said “the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law.”
The UNRWA compound sits just inside East Jerusalem, meaning that, under most interpretations of international law, it is considered occupied territory, having been seized by Israel during the 1967 war.
The United Nations still pays money to Jordan to lease the land, but Israel does not accept the legality of that agreement.
In a statement, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry said the demolition work was a “dangerous escalation, a blatant violation of international law and an infringement of the privileges and immunities of United Nations organisations”.
Around a month ago, Israeli authorities entered the site, took away equipment and raised an Israeli flag. At that time, it was claimed that UNRWA owed taxes to the municipality.
Now, the government has justified its work by saying that the site belongs to the Israeli state and that the UN can no longer claim immunity because the compound is vacant and unused.
Read more from Sky News:
Spain begins three days of mourning after train crash
Surfer ‘lucky to survive’ Sydney’s fourth shark attack in three days
Israel claim ‘absolute nonsense’
A UN official described that claim as “absolute nonsense” and added: “They can say what they like, but it doesn’t make it real.”
The rows over the site are another example of the tension between Israel and the United Nations, which Israel considers to be institutionally biased against it.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
It has angrily rejected claims made by the UN of famine in Gaza, while a UN committee alleged that Israel was committing genocide, provoking a furious backlash from Jerusalem.
Hamas Shahwa, UNRWA’s former chief of staff, told Sky News: “This is another message to the world that Israel is the only country that can demolish international law and get away with it. It’s extremely sad and frustrating. UNRWA must remain strong and united in the face of this criminal act.”
