Escalation in Jerusalem.. UNRWA headquarters set on fire after being demolished

The deliberate burning of the UNRWA headquarters comes a few days after Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished parts of the building.

The headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem witnessed a deliberate arson incident on Sunday, a few days after Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished parts of the building. This incident is a new episode in the series of targeting that the UN organization has been subjected to since its activities were officially banned.

UNRWA announced in a statement that its main headquarters in Jerusalem was set on fire after it was stormed and partially demolished by the occupation last week. The agency described this fire as a "continuous attempt to undermine the status of Palestinian refugees," stressing that its properties enjoy international immunity that legally obliges Israel to protect and respect them, according to statements by the agency's spokesperson, Jonathan Fowler.

For their part, fire and rescue teams confirmed their response to the report and their work to extinguish the fire to prevent its spread, without addressing the real causes of its outbreak, which adds to the ambiguity of the scene regarding the party responsible for the fire, given that the headquarters has been evacuated of employees since the beginning of 2025.

The East Jerusalem headquarters has been in a state of paralysis since January 2025, following the Israeli occupation's decision to prevent UNRWA from operating within the country, after accusing it of providing cover for Hamas elements. Although UN investigations have not provided conclusive evidence to prove the Israeli allegations, the field escalation against the agency's facilities has not stopped.

It is worth noting that UNRWA was established in 1948 to care for about 700,000 Palestinian refugees, and today it is the main artery for health and educational services in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which makes targeting its headquarters in Jerusalem a clear political message affecting the issue of the right of return and Palestinian presence in the Holy City.