Israel Demolishes UNRWA East Jerusalem Offices Under New Ban Law

Israeli forces on Tuesday began bulldozing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) headquarters compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem and fired tear gas around a UNRWA vocational school in Qalandia, enforcing a 2025 Israeli law that bans the agency from operating in areas Israel defines as its territory, including annexed east Jerusalem. UNRWA’s West Bank director Roland Friedrich said Israeli crews arrived early, confiscated equipment and removed private security guards from the long‑shuttered compound, while the U.N. reported children leaving the Qalandia training center were exposed to tear gas and a 15‑year‑old was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet. Israel’s Foreign Ministry defended the demolition as a lawful act on Israeli‑owned land and part of its crackdown on an agency it accuses—often without publicly presented evidence—of links to Hamas and involvement of some staff in the October 2023 attacks, allegations UNRWA says it has investigated and acted on while denying institutional collaboration. U.N. Secretary‑General António Guterres condemned the destruction and called for the site to be returned to U.N. control, saying continued "escalatory actions" against UNRWA violate Israel’s obligations under international law. The move threatens UNRWA’s still‑operating vocational center in Qalandia and a health facility in Shu’afat, further tightening pressure on a key humanitarian provider as U.S. and other donors fight over whether to keep funding the agency against Israeli efforts to dismantle it.