By Janet Ekstract, ISTANBUL- According to the Times of Israel, on January 20, Israeli crews began tearing down the Jerusalem headquarters of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the agency that supports and assists Palestinian refugees, delivering humanitarian services to millions across the region. What led up to this was Israel accusing UNRWA of collaborating with Hamas on the October 7, 2023 attack on a music festival where numerous Israelis were either murdered or kidnapped to Gaza. UNRWA has always denied this and in 2025, Israel banned the organization from operating in Israel. Meanwhile, UNRWA wrote on X that Israeli forces confiscated staff devices and forced them out of their headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. The statement read: “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,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the demolition of UNRWA is acting on a new law that bans the organization.
The Israeli government and its far-right ministers have long condemned UNRWA as an arm of Hamas and Israel’s far-right has been vocal in seeking its ouster. As Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement as he accompanied demolition crews, he called it a “historic day.” Israel’s accusations against the humanitarian organization were never proven nor did Israel ever offer evidence that would prove UNRWA was Hamas supported. UNRWA provides aid and services to at least 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 keeps its infrastructure in Palestinian refugee camps and also runs schools and provides healthcare to refugees who said it’s crucial to making sure people receive basic services.
The ban on UNRWA matches a wider effort by Israel to deregister aid groups operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel passed laws requiring nongovernmental organizations not to hire staff involved in activities that it considers to “delegitimize Israel” or support boycotts, making demands that 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 said the rules are arbitrary and warned that this new ban harms a civilian populace that desperately needs humanitarian aid.
