UNRWA, the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, announced on Thursday it would be temporarily shuttering its Jerusalem headquarters amid recent protests outside the building, calling for UNRWA to be removed from Jerusalem.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, wrote in a lengthy post on social media that the decision to close the Jerusalem headquarters was madeafter “Israeli extremists” set fire to the perimeter.
“While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas. The UNRWA headquarters has on its grounds a petrol and diesel station for the Agency’s fleet of cars,” he wrote.
“Our director with the help of other staff had to put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up,” said Lazzarini, who described the incident as “an outrageous development.”
“In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored,” the UNRWA chief wrote.
Lazzarini cited the protests outside the UNRWA compound over the last two months saying they were “called by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality. This week, the protest became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound.”
He claimed that UN staff “have regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation. Our compound has been seriously vandalized and damaged. On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns.”
Lazzarini also wrote that “it is the responsibility of the State of Israel as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times. UN staff, premises and operations should be protected at all times in line with international law.”
The protests outside the UNRWA compound in Jerusalem have followed Israel’s revelation that 12 UNRWA staff had taken part in Hamas’ October 7 attack. Among other things, Israel said those workers kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively taking part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered.
While Lazzarini announced that the UN agency had launched an investigation into the employees in question, he has also insisted he had no knowledge of how deep Hamas is involved in UNRWA, and has repeatedly accused Israel of "a deliberate and concerted campaign" aimed at ending UNRWA’s work.
A review group which was appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to look into Israel’s allegations against UNRWA recently released its report. The report found neutrality-related issues" in UNRWA but also claimed that Israel had yet to provide evidence for allegations that a significant number of its staff were members of terrorist organizations.
Later, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that UN investigators closed one case against an UNRWA employee due to a lack of evidence from Israel and suspended three more.