ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES have stormed and demolished the headquarters of the United Nations’ largest aid agency for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, an assault that has been condemned by the head of the organisation as “a new level” of defiance of international law. 

The bulldozing of the complex follows a recent Israeli government ban of UNRWA, which has thrown up new obstacles to the delivery of aid and basic civil services for Palestinians living under its illegal occupation. 

UN installations are inviolable under international law. 

The demolition was attended by elected Israeli politicians, including Itamar Ben-Gvir, an “ultranationalist” extremist member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. 

UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said that this morning Israeli forces had stormed the compound in East Jerusalem, which is not located within Israel’s borders but has been occupied since 1967, along with the West Bank. 

UNRWA said the demolition constitutes “an unprecedented attack against a United Nations agency and its premises” and forms part of a pattern of actions taken by the Israeli government “to erase the Palestine Refugee identity”.

An Israeli flag seen flying over the compound in Palestine Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

UNRWA provides aid as well as education and health services to Palestinians who were displaced during the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. That includes people living in refugee camps in Palestine and neighbouring countries. 

Israel has been carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing while demolishing built-up refugee camps in the north of the West Bank, especially since the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip.

It has also taken measures to restrict or the activities of NGOs that support Palestinians in the last number of months. More generally, Israel has repeatedly sought to undermine and delegitimise the UN, with Netanyahu referring to the General Assembly in a speech last year as a “swamp of antisemitic bile”.

Both Lazzarini and UN chief António Guterres were banned from entering Israel in 2023. 

For the first time in the history of the United Nations.

Israel takeover of UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem and raised its flag over the building.

This violates Article 52 of Additional Protocol (I) Geneva Conventions and the UN Charter, which stipulates that “The property and… pic.twitter.com/uhROc3qfEJ

— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) January 20, 2026

UNRWA said that today’s assault on it’s compound, “together with previous arson attacks and a large-scale disinformation campaign, fly in the face of the ruling in October by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which restated that Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them”.

The ICJ has also ruled that Israel’s occupation, and the colonies (settlements) it continues to authorise in the West Bank, is illegal under international law. 

“Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem,” the agency said.

“There can be no exceptions. This must be a wake-up call.

“What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world.”

Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee announced Ireland would give UNRWA €20 million as part of a total €42 million in support for aid agencies supporting Palestinians. 

This morning, Israeli occupation forces demolished #UnitedNations property in occupied #EastJerusalem, yet another live-streamed gruesome crime in violation of international law, directly defying the @CIJ_ICJ's recent ruling that Israel "may not obstruct @UNRWA functions in OPT." pic.twitter.com/W100heRsj8

— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) January 20, 2026

Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA and other NGOs of harbouring “terrorists” among their staff, which has been put forward as a justification for actions taken against them.

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The Israeli government recently banned a number of international NGOs from working in Palestine, including Doctor’s Without Borders (MSF), claiming they failed to register full lists of their employees.  

יום היסטורי, יום חג, יום חשוב מאוד למשילות בירושלים. במשך שנים התומכי טרור האלה היו כאן, והיום תומכי הטרור האלה מסולקים מכאן עם כל מה שהם בנו כאן. זה מה שיעשה לכל תומך טרור! pic.twitter.com/xbQusbdhTX

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 20, 2026

In a post on X, which featured a video showing machinery destroying buildings in the background, Ben-Gvir said today was “a historic day, a holiday, a very important day for governance in Jerusalem”.

“For years, these terror supporters were here, and today these terror supporters are expelled from here with everything they built here,” he said.

“This is what will be done to every terror supporter!”

Ben-Gvir was convicted of incitement of racism and supporting a terrorist organisation in 2008. Last year, the Israeli High Court rejected a petition to have him removed from his role as national security minister. 

Jordan’s foreign affairs ministry has “strongly condemned” the demolition, calling it “a blatant violation of international law”.

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