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 tasked with delivering 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. But Tuesday’s demolition marked Israel’s latest and most dramatic step against UNRWA.
Roland Friedrich, the group’s West Bank director, said UNRWA had received word that demolition crews and police arrived at their east Jerusalem headquarters early in the morning. Staff has not operated out of the facility due to danger and incitement for almost a year, but Israeli forces confiscated devices and forced out the private security hired to guard the facility.
"What we saw today is is the culmination of two years of incitement and, measures against UNRWA in east Jerusalem," Friedrich said, calling it a violation of international law guaranteeing such facilities protection.
UNRWA’s mandate is to provide 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. The group has for years maintained infrastructure in refugee camps and also run schools and provide health care. But its operations were curtailed last year when Israel’s Knesset passed legislation severing ties and banning it from functioning in what it defines as Israel — including east Jerusalem.
The agency said the demolitions could imperil operations at its vocational center in Qalandia and heath facility in Shua’fat, where it continues to provide education and health services.
An Israeli flag was seen hoisted above the facility in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where some Israeli politicians arrived on the scene to celebrate the organization’s fate. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it "a historic day."