UNITED NATIONS
\nThe demolition underway on Tuesday of the headquarters of UN agency UNRWA by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem — reportedly \u201cunder the watch of lawmakers and a member of the Tel Aviv Government\u201d – has prompted swift condemnation from the global body.
\nResponding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency tasked with delivering humanitarian services to millions of Palestinians, Philippe Lazzarini, described it as an \u201cunprecedented attack\u201d against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law.
\nThe move represents \u201ca new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, by the State of Israel\u201d, the UNRWA Commissioner-General said on X.UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres condemned the demolition \u201cin the strongest terms\u201d.
\nThe UN chief has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that the compound remains UN premises and is \u201cinviolable and immune from any form of interference.\u201d \u201cThe Secretary-General views as wholly unacceptable the continued escalatory actions against UNRWA,\u201d the statement from his office continued. Guterres called on Israel to halt the demolition and restore the compound to the UN \u201cwithout delay\u201d.
\nEchoing those concerns, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed his \u201coutrage\u201d at the incident, which marks a sharp escalation of tensions between the Israeli authorities and UNRWA. \u201cIt compounds what we\u2019ve been seeing for a while; attacking aid groups and UN actors who are trying to help,\u201d said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the High Commissioner.
\nOn 14 January, Israeli forces entered an UNRWA health centre in East Jerusalem and ordered it to close. At the time of the incident, the agency said its workers were \u201cterrified\u201d. In the coming weeks, water and power supplies to UNRWA facilities are scheduled to be cut, including to buildings used for health care and education.
\n\u201cThis is a direct result of legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in December, which stepped up existing anti-UNRWA laws adopted in 2024,\u201d Lazzarini said.Previously, UNRWA premises have been targeted by arsonists amid a \u201clarge-scale disinformation campaign\u201d against it by Israel, the agency\u2019s Commissioner-General maintained.
\nThis was despite a ruling last October by the UN\u2019s top court, the International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel was obliged \u201cto facilitate UNRWA\u2019s operations, not hinder or prevent them. The court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem,\u201d Lazzarini noted.
\n\u201cWhat 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,\u201d he added. \u201cInternational law has come under increasing attack for too long and is risking irrelevancy in the absence of response by Member States.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS The demolition underway on Tuesday of the headquarters of UN agency UNRWA by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem — reportedly \u201cunder the watch of lawmakers and a member of the Tel Aviv Government\u201d – has prompted swift condemnation from the global body. Responding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-526966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n