JERUSALEM: The chief of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees denounced the Israeli authorities’ seizure of assets from its east Jerusalem compound on Monday, which police told AFP was part of a debt-collection operation.
“Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem,” Philippe Lazzarini said on X.
With trucks and forklifts, the authorities took “furniture, IT equipment and other property,” and the compound’s United Nations flag was replaced with an Israeli one, Lazzarini added.
Lazzarini has been declared persona non grata by Israeli authorities, who banned his agency from operating inside the country early this year.
Israeli police told AFP in a statement that the seizures were “carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure.”
“Police are present to secure the municipality’s activity,” the statement said.
Jerusalem police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told AFP that the debt collection was related to the Arnona, an Israeli residence tax that covers municipal services.
But Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the West Bank and east Jerusalem, disputed that assessment.
“There is no debt because the United Nations — and UNRWA is part of the United Nations and is a UN agency — is not required to pay any kind of taxes of that kind under international law and under the law that Israel itself has adopted,” he said.
Under a 1946 convention, the UN and its assets must not be taxed by host countries.
The compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has been empty of UNRWA staff since January, when the law banning its operations took effect after a months-long battle over its work in the Gaza Strip.
Israel had accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, and the legislation also forbids contact between the agency and Israeli officials.
Though the ban applies in east Jerusalem due to its annexation by Israel, the agency still operates in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
“Whatever action taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference,” Lazzarini said.
UNRWA chief denounces Israeli police’s seizure of agency’s Jerusalem assets
https://arab.news/2nncz
UNRWA chief denounces Israeli police’s seizure of agency’s Jerusalem assets
- With trucks and forklifts, the authorities took “furniture, IT equipment and other property,” and the compound’s UN flag was replaced with an Israeli one, Lazzarini said
Over 9,350 Palestinians held in Israeli detention as of January
- Detainees include 53 women and girls, 2 of whom are minors, and around 350 children held in Megiddo and Ofer prisons
- Total number of administrative detainees is 3,385, while those classified by Israel as ‘unlawful combatants’ amount to 1,237
LONDON: The number of Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers has surpassed 9,350 as of early January 2026, according to reports from Palestinian prisoners’ organizations.
According to the institutions, based on data released by the Israeli Prison Service, the detainees include 53 women and girls, two of whom are minors, and around 350 children held in Megiddo and Ofer prisons.
The total number of administrative detainees is 3,385, while those classified by Israel as “unlawful combatants” amount to 1,237. This figure does not account for all detainees from Gaza held in Israeli military camps under this classification, which also includes a few Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.
Prisoners’ institutions reported that approximately 50 percent of detainees are held without charges, either under administrative detention or classified as “unlawful combatants” by Israel.
Administrative detainees account for over 36 percent of all Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The classifications of administrative detention and “unlawful combatants” permit the indefinite detention of individuals without charge in military detention centers.
