Published On 8/12/2025
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Last update: 21:49 (Mecca time)
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, denounced the Israeli police’s confiscation of the United Nations’ property at its headquarters in East Jerusalem, on Monday, while the Palestinian National Council and the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the storming of the headquarters in two separate statements.
Lazzarini said on the “X” platform that the Israeli authorities used trucks and cranes to transport “furniture, technical equipment, and other property,” and the United Nations flag was lowered and the Israeli flag was raised instead.
This morning, the Israeli police, accompanied by municipal officials, stormed the UNRWA compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem.
Agence France-Presse quoted the Israeli police as saying, “The procedure was implemented by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt collection process,” adding that the police presence aims to secure the municipality’s activity.
Jerusalem Police spokesman, Dean Elsdon, confirmed that the debt collection process is related to the “arnona” tax, which is the property tax in Israel.
Denials and convictions
On the other hand, the Director of UNRWA Affairs in the occupied West Bank, Roland Frederick, denied the existence of the debt, explaining that the United Nations – of which UNRWA is a part – does not require any taxes of this kind under international law and under the law adopted by Israel itself.
For his part, the head of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, confirmed in a statement that the Israeli police storming the closed UNRWA headquarters and conducting extensive searches inside it, detaining security guards, seizing their phones, preventing communication with them, and closing the entire area “is a flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
He called for immediate and effective international action to hold Israel accountable for its ongoing violations, and to hold accountable those responsible for the attacks targeting the Palestinian people and their national and international institutions.
For its part, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in a statement the Israeli police storming of the UNRWA headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, as a “flagrant violation of international law and a violation of the immunities and privileges of United Nations organizations.”
It warned of the catastrophic repercussions of the illegal Israeli measures against UNRWA and its institutions that provide services that cannot be dispensed with or replaced.
Under a 1946 agreement, host countries may not impose taxes on the United Nations or its property.
UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem has been devoid of employees since last January, after a months-long battle centered around the agency’s provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza, which ended with an Israeli decision to prevent the agency from working inside Israel.
The implementation of Israel’s decision to sever its relations with the agency began on January 30, as Israel accused the agency of providing cover for the Hamas movement.
Under the decision, Israel prevented UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory and in occupied East Jerusalem, and communication between it and Israeli officials was suspended.
However, the United Nations was quick to confirm that UNRWA was continuing its work throughout the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, despite the resolution’s entry into force.
Security guards remained in the complex, and the furniture remained inside the offices.
East Jerusalem was subject to Jordanian sovereignty, like all other cities in the West Bank, before Israel occupied it in 1967 and announced its annexation at that time in a step that was not recognized by the international community.
UNRWA has been providing support to Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East for more than 70 years, and has often been attacked by Israeli officials for allegedly undermining Israeli security.