Overview
- UNRWA said sizeable Israeli forces on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts cut communications and forced their way into the Sheikh Jarrah compound before dawn.
- Police said they executed a Jerusalem municipality debt-collection procedure, while city officials offered no immediate comment.
- Photos show police vehicles outside, officers inside the grounds, and an Israeli flag placed on the roof of the compound.
- The site had been shut since May after far-right protesters forced the gate, and the agency’s East Jerusalem offices have been inactive since 2024 following Knesset measures banning UNRWA activity in Israel.
- The move fits a broader Israeli campaign against the refugee agency, which serves roughly 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and about 3 million in neighboring countries, after U.S. funding was halted and accusations the U.N. denies.