Israeli crews begin bulldozing headquarters of UN agency for Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli crews on Tuesday started bulldozing the Jerusalem headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, pushing forward with its crackdown against an organization that delivers humanitarian services to millions of people across the region.

Israel has long accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of collaborating with Hamas — a charge it denies — and last year banned it from operating on its territory. Tuesday’s demolition marked Israel’s latest and most dramatic step against UNRWA.

UNRWA said on X that Israeli forces had confiscated staff devices and forced them out of their headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

“This is an unprecedented attack not only against UNRWA and its premises. It constitutes a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” it said.

Israel has long criticized UNRWA for what it said are pro-Palestinian leanings and accused it of ties to Hamas. Israel's Foreign Ministry said the demolition was following through on a new law banning the organization.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement that he had accompanied crews to the headquarters and called it a “historic day.”

UNRWA provides aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. It maintains infrastructure in Palestinian refugee camps and also runs schools and provides health care to refugees, who say it is critical to ensuring people receive basic services.

Throughout the war in the Gaza Strip, which was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, Israel has accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, saying the militants used its facilities and seized aid. It has provided little evidence for the claims, which the U.N. has denied. UNRWA supporters have said Israel's attacks on the agency are aimed at sidelining the issue of Palestinian refugees, one of the most contentious dividing Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinians contend those who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel in the 1948 war surrounding its creation should be allowed to return, while Israel has said refugees should be permanently resettled outside its borders.

The Trump administration cut funding for the agency in 2018. Israel’s Knesset last year passed legislation banning it from functioning in what it defines as Israel — including east Jerusalem, where the organization is based. It severed all ties between government employees and UNRWA — making coordination impossible — and stripped its staff of their legal immunities.

UNRWA headquarters was also raided last month.

The ban dovetailed with broader efforts to deregister aid groups operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has passed laws requiring nongovernmental organizations not hire staff involved in activities that “delegitimize Israel” or support boycotts, demanding they register lists of names as a condition of being allowed to work.

Israel told dozens of groups — including Doctors Without Borders and CARE — that their licenses would expire at the end of 2025. The organizations say the rules are arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.

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