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Israeli settlers storm UNRWA building in occupied Jerusalem

February 4, 2025 at 8:59 am

Israeli right wing activists deface the sign board in front of the shuttered gate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA’s West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on January 30, 2025 [JOHN WESSELS/AFP via Getty Images]

Illegal Israeli settlers stormed the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem on Monday. Local sources reported that a group of settlers stormed the UN building and raised Israeli flags and offensive signs.

Israeli laws targeting the work of the UNRWA in the Palestinian territories came into effect last Thursday, meaning that hundreds of thousands of refugees will be deprived of essential services, including education and healthcare.

UNRWA activity within “areas under Israeli sovereignty” is now prohibited, including operating representative offices and providing services. Israelis are also prohibited from having any contact with the agency.

For the occupation government, the term “Israeli sovereign areas” includes occupied East Jerusalem, where the temporary headquarters of UNRWA is located, specifically in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, which has witnessed a wave of terrorist acts and exclusionary decisions in recent months.

In May 2024, the agency’s management was forced to close the headquarters under the pressure of attacks by settlers, which reached the point of setting fire to its buildings twice in one week.

On 10 October last year, the Israel Lands Authority announced the seizure of the land on which the UNRWA headquarters is located in Sheikh Jarrah, and the transformation of the site into a settlement outpost containing 1,440 housing units.

The occupation regime also targeted the UNRWA Kalandia Training Centre (KTC), with the Israel Lands Authority issuing a decision on 14 January 2024 demanding that UNRWA vacate it and pay retroactive occupancy fees of 17 million shekels (about $4.76 million), on the pretext of constructing and using buildings without a permit.

UNRWA provides services to more than 110,000 refugees in Jerusalem alone. The UN agency has two refugee camps, Shuafat Camp and Kalandia Camp. It runs institutions there such as the Indian Corner Clinic at the entrance to Bab Al-Sahira, and schools for boys and girls in Jerusalem, Sur Baher and the two camps.

All of Israel’s settlements and settlers are illegal under international law.

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