**Date:** 20/1/2026
**Condemnation of Demolition Operations**
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The Department of Refugee Affairs of the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned the actions of the Israeli occupation government, carried out under the direct supervision of extremist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, in demolishing the mobile offices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) at its headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the occupied city of Jerusalem. The Department described this act as a blatant and deliberate assault on a United Nations institution that enjoys international immunity.
In a press statement issued today, Tuesday, the Department affirmed that this aggressive measure constitutes further evidence that the international community is confronting a racist occupation government that refuses to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law and international conventions, and that shows complete disregard for international legitimacy, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice issued last October, and United Nations resolutions, foremost among them those guaranteeing the protection of international institutions, their staff, and their premises.
The Department stressed that the supervision of a minister in the far-right occupation government over this crime reflects its official and systematic nature, and confirms that targeting UNRWA is no longer an individual act, but rather a government policy aimed at undermining the Agency’s mandate, erasing its legal role, and targeting the UN witness to the crime of the Nakba and the rights of Palestinian refugees.
The Department further affirmed that this dangerous escalation aims to eliminate the legal, humanitarian, and political dimensions of UNRWA in the capital of the occupied State of Palestine. It represents the culmination of a series of illegitimate laws and repressive decisions adopted by the occupation government and the Knesset, beginning with the laws banning the Agency’s activities issued on 28 October 2024, and extending to the latest legal amendments in January 2026, which mandated cutting electricity, water, and internet supplies to the Agency’s premises, closing its schools and clinics, and revoking all diplomatic privileges and immunities previously enjoyed by the international organization under the agreements in force since 1967 and under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
The Department stated that what is happening today in Sheikh Jarrah is the culmination of a systematic policy that has targeted the destruction of more than 190 UNRWA facilities in the Gaza Strip, and has led to the cold-blooded killing of 382 staff members since the start of the war (309 UNRWA employees, in addition to 73 individuals who were supporting its activities), as well as subsequent measures including the denial of entry visas to international UNRWA staff and the obstruction of the entry of humanitarian and relief supplies.
The Department explained that the continued targeting by the occupation government of UNRWA premises in East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, and other areas of its operations does not merely constitute an attack on a United Nations agency, but gravely undermines the multilateral system for humanitarian action, strikes at the foundations of international cooperation, and threatens the ability of the international humanitarian system to perform its role, setting an extremely dangerous precedent.
The Department called upon the international community, the United Nations, and the States Parties to the Geneva Conventions to assume their legal and political responsibilities and to take immediate and binding measures to protect UNRWA, ensure respect for its immunity and premises, halt the ongoing attacks against it, and hold those responsible for these crimes accountable in accordance with international law.
