Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led Israeli forces on Tuesday to demolish structures inside the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem.

According to witnesses, Israeli forces, accompanied by at least one bulldozer, moved into the compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and demolished mobile and permanent structures on the site.

Israeli forces also raised the Israeli flag over the compound, replacing the UN flag, they added.

“[This is] a historic day, a holiday, a very important day for the governance of Jerusalem,” Ben-Gvir wrote on the US social media company X.

“Today these supporters of terror are being driven out of here with everything they have built here.”

Aryeh King, an Israeli deputy mayor of Jerusalem, called the UN refugee agency “Nazi.”

“I promised that we would kick the Nazi enemy out of Jerusalem,” he said on X. “Now it's happening: UNRWA is being kicked out of Jerusalem!”

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini denounced the Israeli demolition as an “unprecedented attack” on the UN agency and its premises.

“A new level of open & deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges & immunities of the United Nations, by the State of Israel,” Lazzarini said in a post on X.

“Like all UN Member States & countries committed to the international rule-based order, Israel is obliged to protect & respect the inviolability of UN premises.”

Last month, the Israeli Knesset passed a law to cut electricity and water supplies to the UNRWA premises in East Jerusalem.

Israel has previously taken similar steps against the UNRWA. In 2024, the Knesset passed legislation banning the UN agency’s activities in Israel, citing allegations that some UNRWA employees were involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 events, claims the agency has denied. The UN has said UNRWA adheres to strict neutrality standards.

“These actions, together with previous arson attacks & a large-scale disinformation campaign, fly in the face of the ruling in October by the International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them.

The court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem,” Lazzarini said.

He warned that the Israeli measures could happen against other international agencies.

“There can be no exceptions. This must be a wake-up call,” he said. “What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world. International law has come under increasing attack for too long & is risking irrelevancy in the absence of response by Member States.”

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly more than 70 years ago to assist Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their land. (AA)

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