UN Palestinian aid agency says Israeli police ‘forcibly entered’ compound in Jerusalem

Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)

JERUSALEM — Israeli police forcibly entered the compound of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem early Monday, escalating a campaign against an organization that has been banned from operating on Israeli territory.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said in a statement that “sizeable numbers” of Israeli forces, including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts, entered the compound in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and cut communications to the compound.

“The unauthorized and forceful entry by Israeli security forces is an unacceptable violation of UNRWA’s privileges and immunities as a UN agency,” the agency said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s office said that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 29, although Israel did not confirm the location of the meeting. On Monday, Netanyahu met with U.S. officials in Jerusalem about collaboration on the U.S.-brokered plan on the future of Gaz

Israel conducting long-running campaign against UNRWA

The raid was the latest action in Israel’s campaign against the agency, which provides aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Photos taken by an Associated Press photographer show police erecting an Israeli flag on the compound, and police cars on the street. Photos provided by UNRWA staff show a group of Israeli police officers in the compound.

Police said in a statement they entered for a “debt-collection procedure” initiated by Jerusalem’s municipal government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agency was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of the Israeli state. UNRWA supporters say Israel hopes to erase the Palestinian refugee issue by dismantling the agency. Israel says the refugees should be permanently resettled outside its borders.

For months following the start of the Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA was the main lifeline for Gaza’s population during Israel’s offensive there.

Throughout the war, Israel has accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, using its facilities and taking aid -- claims for which it has provided little evidence. The U.N. has denied it. Israel also has claimed that hundreds of Palestinian militants work for UNRWA. UNRWA has denied knowingly aiding armed groups and says it acts quickly to purge any suspected militants.

After months of mounting attacks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, Israel formally banned it from operating on its territory in January.

The U.S., formerly the largest donor to UNRWA, halted funding to the agency in early 2024.

UNRWA has since struggled to continue its work in Gaza, with other U.N. agencies, including the World Food Program and UNICEF, stepping in.

Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations and communications, said UNRWA has been excluded from ceasefire talks.

“If you squeeze UNRWA out, what other agency can fill that void?” said Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations and communications, told the AP in Doha.

On Monday, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian called UNRWA “a stain on the United Nations” which has “perpetuated the problem” of Palestinian refugees. “UNRWA has proven its enormous failures and it’s time for it to be dismantled,” she said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns the unauthorized entry” to the compound, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Guterres “urges Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to help restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises in line with Israel’s obligations under the charter of the U.N. and its other obligations under international law,” Dujarric said.

U.S. officials meet Netanyahu

Netanyahu met with the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, and other officials on Monday in a visit the Trump administration said was aimed at pushing forward the U.S.-drafted 20-point plan for Gaza that includes the current ceasefire and following stages.

Israel’s government later said Trump and Netanyahu would meet on Dec. 29 to “discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilization force of the ceasefire plan.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Netanyahu meeting.

One of the thorniest issues in the U.S.-brokered agreement has been the demand for Hamas to disarm. On Sunday, Hamas expressed some willingness to draw down its arsenal as a senior Hamas official told the AP the group is ready to discuss “freezing or storing or laying down” its weapons as part of the ceasefire.

With the remains of one hostage in Gaza yet to be handed over to Israel, Arab and Western officials have said they expect an international governing body in Gaza to be announced in the coming weeks. A search was underway on Monday for the hostage’s remains, Hamas said. Waltz met with the parents of the last hostage, Israeli policeman Ran Gvili, on Monday. Gvili’s parents urged Waltz not to move to the second stage of the ceasefire until their son’s remains are returned, the Hostages Families Forum said.

On Sunday, Waltz met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and discussed expanding humanitarian aid for Gaza and the need for stability in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

The war started when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, leaving around 1,200 people dead and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 70,365 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says nearly half the dead have been women and children. The ministry’s numbers are considered reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

The ministry also says over 376 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect in October.

Violence has also risen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel’s military shot and killed one man Sunday night. Officials said he was throwing rocks at soldiers with two others, one of whom was arrested. Palestinian health officials said the third man was wounded. The military said no soldiers were injured.

Palestinian authorities identified the man killed as a 19-year-old from the northern city of Qalqilya.

Construction of barrier along Israel-Jordan border

Israel began construction of a 50-mile (80-kilometre) barrier along its border with Jordan, Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz said Monday.

Katz said the construction was aimed at preventing “efforts of Iran and its proxies to establish an eastern front against the state of Israel.”

The final project will include increased security along 310 miles (500 kilometres) of border areas in eastern Israel, and would cost the government around US$1.7 billion, according to Israeli government figures.

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Josef Federman in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.

Megan Janetsky And Julia Frankel, The Associated Press