‘Barbaric new era’: Palestinians, UN slam Israeli demolition of UNRWA HQ 

The bulldozing of the headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem has sparked condemnation from the world body and Palestinian leaders, who warn the move signals a “barbaric new era” of unchecked defiance of international law.

Israeli forces, accompanied by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, stormed the compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood on Tuesday, demolishing structures and confiscating equipment. Ben-Gvir described the destruction as a “historic day”.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said the operation was a “wake-up call” for the world.

“This constitutes an unprecedented attack against a United Nations agency and its premises,” Lazzarini wrote on X. “What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organization or diplomatic mission … anywhere around the world.”

Lazzarini vehemently rejected Israel’s justification for seizing the land.

“The Israeli Government’s claims are false and illegal,” he wrote. “UNRWA has leased the land from the Government of Jordan since 1952. It is now being seized in blatant breach of international law.”

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the demolition was following through on a 2024 law that banned UNRWA.

Lazzarini warned that a “lost moral compass” is opening a dangerous chapter in which UN staff are demonised and their facilities destroyed with impunity.

UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide basic support, including food, healthcare and education, to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees. More than 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes and land leading up to Israel’s creation in 1948, which Palestinians remember as the Nakba, or “catastrophe”.

UNRWA’s operations are spread across Palestinian territory, including in East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Erasing the right of return

Palestinian leaders view the demolition not merely as a property dispute but also as a calculated attempt to erase the political rights of refugees.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israel is driven by “absolute stupidity” in believing that destroying buildings will destroy the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

“It reminds them of their criminal past and the ethnic cleansing they carried out in 1948,” Barghouti said.

He outlined three strategic goals behind the attack:

• Political: erasing the refugee issue
• Existential: destroying the “system of Palestinian steadfastness” by cutting off health and education services
• Territorial: facilitating the “complete Judaisation of Jerusalem and the West Bank”

Calls for sanctions

The incident has reignited the debate over Western complicity and double standards in Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Luisa Morgantini, former vice president of the European Parliament, told Al Jazeera Arabic that the international community’s silence amounts to complicity.

“The Europeans are complicit, and the Americans are complicit because they didn’t say anything and didn’t act,” Morgantini said. “The only way Israel can understand … is if, for example, Europe stops forging trade relations with Israel.”

Barghouti echoed this, demanding the same treatment be applied to Israel as other nations.

“Why are sanctions imposed on Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and Iran but not Israel?” Barghouti asked. “It is the duty of the UN secretary-general now to demand governments of the world impose sanctions. This is the only way to deter Israel.”

The demolition was carried out during a wider crackdown on humanitarian aid. Israel has recently revoked the operating licences of 37 aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, for failing to comply with new regulations requiring them to provide detailed information on their staff members, funding and operations. The ban will impact the provision of life-saving assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Despite a ceasefire in place since October, Israel has continued to curb the entry of aid into the Palestinian enclave of 2.2 million people and has killed more than 460 Palestinians there.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high in East Jerusalem, where Israeli forces reportedly fired tear gas at an UNRWA vocational school shortly after the headquarters was raided on Tuesday.