Israeli Residents Set Fire To The UN’s Palestinian Refugee Agency In East Jerusalem, Forcing It To Shut Down
Israelis are seen chanting "UNRWA is Hamas", while another video showed a crowd, accompanied by armed men, chanting “Burn down the UN”.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees has been forced to shut down its headquarters in the Israel-occupied East Jerusalem after Israeli residents set fire to its compound.
Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – also known as UNRWA – on Thursday, May 9, while UNRWA and other UN staff were inside, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA wrote on X.
UNRWA is the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, and the only one that has been allowed in to deliver aid since Israel began its war that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians.
Video of the incident from Israeli media showed a crowd, accompanied by armed men, chanting “Burn down the UN” outside the compound.
Lazzarini said that while there were no casualties, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas, which included a petrol and diesel station.
He said that Adam Bouloukos, the director of UNRWA in the occupied West Bank, and the staff had to put out the fire themselves as the Israeli authorities took a while to arrive.
Bouloukos told Reuters that he was hit by stones as he attempted to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher and that Israeli residents lit a second fire shortly afterwards near the agency’s fuel depot, which could have led to a major explosion.
“This is an outrageous development. Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk,” Lazzarini wrote.
He added that as a result, he had made the decision to close down the UNRWA compound “until proper security is restored.”
Israel has repeatedly targeted UNRWA’s facilities in Gaza since Oct. 7, killing at least 152 UNRWA workers, the most killed in the entire history of the UN.
In February, after the ICJ found Israel was “plausibly” committing genocide in Gaza, Israel accused 12 UNRWA staff of working for Hamas, leading multiple countries to cut their funding to the agency.
Israeli police said they have opened an investigation into the arson, adding that preliminary findings suggest the fire was lit by minors, meaning they could not be held criminally liable.
Kassy Cho
Meg Chen
Kassy Cho
