ISRAEL has begun bulldozing buildings inside the headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem, as the far-right government clamps down heavily on humanitarian groups that provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
UNRWA said in a statement on Tuesday that Israeli forces had confiscated staff devices and forced them out of their headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
“This is an unprecedented attack not only against UNRWA and its premises. It constitutes a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” it said.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority condemned the demolitions, saying that it “warns of the gravity of this deliberate escalation against UNRWA, which comes within the framework of a systematic targeting of its role and UN mandate, and an attempt to undermine the international protection system for Palestinian refugees”.
Later on Tuesday, Israeli forces fired tear gas at a Palestinian trade school in a second targeting of a UN facility in occupied East Jerusalem.
Local sources reported earlier that an Israeli army group, accompanied by bulldozers, stormed the UNRWA’s compound after sealing off the surrounding streets and intensifying its military presence in the area, and proceeded to demolish structures inside the compound, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israeli lawmakers and member of the government were also present, according to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, who said the attack came “in the wake of other steps taken by Israeli authorities to erase the Palestine Refugee identity”.
He also warned that “what happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission” anywhere in the world.
Israel has repeatedly attacked UNRWA for what it terms pro-Palestinian leanings and accused the body of ties to Hamas, without providing evidence, which the UN agency has vehemently denied.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the demolition was following through on a new law that banned the organisation.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement that he had accompanied crews to the headquarters and called it a “historic day”.
Israel has faced global condemnation after a ban on dozens of international aid organisations working to provide life-saving assistance to Palestinians in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip came into effect weeks ago.
Israel has revoked the operating licences of 37 aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, and the Norwegian Refugee Council, for failing to comply with new government regulations.
The new rules require international NGOs working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to provide detailed information on staff members, as well as their funding and operations.
Reporting from Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said the escalation followed “months of Israeli forces cracking down on Palestinians in Gaza” and banning agencies “from offering help to Palestinians in need over there”.
She added that it comes as the one-year anniversary of a major Israeli assault on three Palestinian refugee camps approaches and after a “large-scale” operation in Hebron.