Unrwa headquarters in Jerusalem closed after arson attack by “Israeli extremists” | United Nations

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has temporarily closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem after “Israeli extremists” set fire to the area following weeks of repeated attacks.

“This evening, Israeli residents twice set fire to the edge of the Unrwa headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” the agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X, lamenting that it was the second attack on the site in a matter of days.

He said: “A crowd accompanied by armed men were seen outside the compound shouting: ‘Burn down the United Nations’.”

UNRWA and staff from other UN agencies were at the site, which houses fuel and diesel stations for a fleet of UN cars.

“Although there were no injuries among our employees, the fire caused extensive damage to outdoor areas,” Lazzaroni said, adding that Unrwa employees extinguished the fire themselves.

The attack came after two months in which “Israeli extremists staged protests outside the Unrwa compound,” he said. At a protest earlier this week, “things turned violent with demonstrators throwing rocks at U.N. staff and at the buildings at the site,” he said.

Thursday’s arson attacks represented “an outrageous development,” Lazzarini said. “Once again, the lives of UN staff were in serious danger.”

“In light of this second horrific incident in less than a week, I have decided to close our site until safety is restored.”

The Unrwa chief said that “UN staff have been regularly subjected to harassment and intimidation in recent months.”

“Our site was badly destroyed and damaged. On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our employees with weapons.”

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza staff of involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

This led many donor countries, including the top donor, the United States, to abruptly stop funding the agency, jeopardizing its efforts to deliver urgently needed aid in Gaza, although some have since resumed payments.

An independent Unrwa investigation led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna found some “neutrality issues” but said Israel had not yet provided evidence to support its main allegations.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry on Thursday “strongly condemned the attack by Israeli settlers on the Unrwa headquarters.”

The ministry criticized the “systematic Israeli attacks on Unrwa,” claiming that the aim was “to liquidate it and deprive millions of Palestinians of their necessary services.”

Unrwa was founded in 1949 and employs around 30,000 people in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.