Israeli forces bulldoze offices of UN agency it says was infiltrated by Hamas

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces on Tuesday began bulldozing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s offices in Sheikh Jarrah, and fired tear gas at a vocational school in Qalandia.

Israel accuses the agency,  tasked with delivering humanitarian services to Palestinian refugees, of being infiltrated by the terrorist group Hamas and says that some of its employees were involved in the October 2023 attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Gaza. UNRWA leaders have said they took swift action against the employees accused of taking part in the attack, and have denied allegations that the agency tolerates or collaborates with Hamas.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned Israel’s destruction of the agency's compound and called for it to be returned to the U.N.'s control.

Roland Friedrich, the agency's West Bank director, said UNRWA received word that demolition crews and police arrived at their east Jerusalem headquarters early on Tuesday. Staff have not operated out of the facility for almost a year due to safety concerns, but Israeli forces confiscated devices and forced out private security guards protecting the facility.

“What we saw today is the culmination of two years of incitement and measures against UNRWA in east Jerusalem,” Friedrich said.

He said forces also began firing tear gas outside the vocational school on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon before ultimately leaving. More than 300 young refugees receive job training in technology and welding there.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the demolition enforced a new law banning UNRWA, noting that Israel owns the site and rejecting UNRWA’s claims that the move violated international law.

Israel has long claimed the agency has an anti-Israel bias. It says UNRWA employs and maintains ties with terrorist groups, including Hamas. The U.N. has ardently denied such claims, and UNRWA has said it acts quickly to purge any suspected terrorists among its staff.

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 provided health care. But its operations were curtailed last year when Israel’s Knesset passed legislation severing ties and banning it from functioning in Israel, including east Jerusalem.

The demolition marked the culmination of years of criticism from Israel and its leaders. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than two years ago, it has ramped up such attacks, saying the terrorists used UNRWA facilities and seized aid. The U.N. has denied the claims. The International Court of Justice said in October that Israel must allow the agency to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

Since Israel passed its law banning the agency last year, its facilities — schools and health centers — and its headquarters have repeatedly been closed, raided, or left unprotected.