Israeli authorities entered the UN Palestinian refugee agency’s East Jerusalem offices yesterday and raised Israel’s flag, in a raid they said was ordered over unpaid taxes but was condemned by the agency as a challenge to international law.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been accused of bias by Israel, has not used the building since the start of this year after Israel ordered it to vacate all its premises and cease its operations.
“This latest action represents a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations Member State to protect and respect the inviolability of UN premises,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.
“To allow this represents a new challenge to international law, one that creates a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present across the world.”
The Jerusalem municipality said tax collectors had entered the UNRWA compound over unpaid property taxes of 11 million shekels ($3.4m) after multiple warnings were issued and all necessary procedures were followed. “This is a substantial debt that required collection after repeated requests, warnings and numerous opportunities given to settle it, which were not answered,” it told Reuters.
UNRWA spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said the East Jerusalem compound remained UN premises despite the Israeli ban on its operations and that the agency had no debts to the municipality.
The UN had contacted Israeli authorities several times to remind them of their obligations under a UN convention to which Israel is a signatory, he said.
The Israeli prime minister’s office and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid.
Lazzarini said police motorcycles and trucks and forklifts were brought in and communications were cut. IT equipment, furniture and other property had been seized, he said.
The UN General Assembly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, first established in 1949, for another three years on Friday. Fowler declined to speculate on the timing of the raid.
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