Israel on Tuesday began demolishing the East Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, with Israeli forces entering the compound with bulldozers and other demolition equipment in the early morning and destroying buildings in what UNRWA called an “unprecedented attack.”
The move to demolish UNRWA’s headquarters comes after years of legislative measures against the agency, which Israel accuses of collusion with Hamas and participation in terror activities.
The Knesset passed a pair of laws in late October 2024 banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory. Despite the ban, UNRWA operations, including schools, healthcare and other social services, are still hobbling along in East Jerusalem.
UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said in a statement to the international press that Israeli forces “stormed into” the compound shortly after 7 a.m. local time.
“This is an unprecedented attack against UNRWA and its premises. And it also constitutes a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” he added.
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Israel defended the move to demolish the compound, with the Foreign Ministry saying in a statement that “UNRWA-Hamas had already ceased its operations at this site and no longer had any UN personnel or UN activity there.”
Machinery demolishes a structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem on January 20, 2026 (Ilia Yefimovich / AFP)
“The compound does not enjoy any immunity and the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law,” it added.
As the bulldozers began tearing down structures, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir arrived at the scene to watch the demolition.
“This is an important day for sovereignty in Jerusalem,” he said. “Today these terror supporters are being kicked out of here with everything they’ve built. This is what will be done to every terror supporter.”
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
Last month, Israeli authorities raided the compound, raising an Israeli flag over the main building and seizing assets it said were related to municipal tax disputes, though the UN maintained that the raid had nothing to do with taxes and the East Jerusalem compound “remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference.”
Israel has long sought to shutter the agency altogether, saying it perpetuates the conflict by continuing to confer refugee status on Palestinian descendants rather than resettling them, unlike the practice with the rest of the world’s refugees.
It ramped up its campaign against the agency after evidence showed that employees of the agency had participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught by Hamas.
Protesters outside the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem, January 30, 2025. (Aron Leib Abrams/Flash90)
Israel has also alleged that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.
In February 2024, the IDF revealed the existence of a subterranean Hamas data center directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza Strip headquarters. The IDF has also repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and gunmen hiding out in UNRWA schools.
A number of freed hostages have also testified after returning to Israel that they were held in captivity in UNRWA schools and facilities.
However, some supporters have noted the key role the agency fills in providing relief to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and keeping them from deeper poverty that could fuel violence and terrorism, saying no other body or group is equipped to handle that responsibility.
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