The United Nations Relief and Works Agency accused Israel of taking over the agency’s buildings in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem in a statement published on Thursday.
UNRWA’s West Bank director Roland Friedrich said that “personnel associated with the Jerusalem Municipality have in recent days entered UNRWA facilities without authorization, including the school compound, health center, and community services office.”
It was alleged that the personnel forcibly entered the premises by breaking locks, and that contractors working on behalf of the municipality had begun carrying out work at the sites, in what the agency alleged was a violation of international law.
Jerusalem Municipality says properties are privately owned
Asked about the allegations, the Jerusalem Municipality told The Jerusalem Post that “These are not UNRWA properties but privately owned properties for which the municipality has signed a usage agreement.
According to the owners of those properties, UNRWA itself unlawfully took control of the properties and did not make payments throughout this period.”
It added: “The municipality intends to open educational institutions at the site for the benefit of residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.”
UNRWA argues facilities are protected under international law
Friedrich told The Post that, as a UN agency, UNRWA schools and health facilities in the Shuafat Camp are “protected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations under international law” and that the “premises are inviolable and immune from any form of legal process or interference, in accordance with the terms of the Convention of Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations to which the State of Israel is a signatory.”
In comments that conflicted with the municipality’s account, Friedrich said that the land was only partially privately owned and partially under Jordanian custodianship and that UNRWA has had a public-use and possession allocation of it for its premises.
He added that over the years, UNRWA had invested millions of dollars provided by international donors into the construction, maintenance, and development of three schools and the health center. Israel’s closure of the sites, he said, meant 550 Palestinian children had been deprived of education and 20,000 patients had their access to health services restricted.
Jerusalem passed legislation in late 2024 banning UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory, including east Jerusalem, citing Hamas’s presence within the agency’s ranks and anti-Israel sentiment in UNRWA schools.