Israeli Bulldozers Demolish UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem After Forces Arrive

Israeli bulldozers began demolishing the UNRWA headquarters in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, January 20, after Israeli forces arrived shortly after 7 a.m. and forced security officers to leave the premises, according to an AFP photographer and UNRWA statements reported by franceinfo.

“Israel demolishes a two-story house inhabited by 13 Palestinians and a commercial workshop in the town of Jaba', north of the occupied East Jerusalem, on the pretext of building without a permit”

Anadolu Ajansı

Le Figaro reported that Roland Friedrich, director of the agency for the West Bank and East Jerusalem, told the outlet: "What is happening here constitutes an unprecedented attack on UNRWA," and said it was a "grave violation of international law as well as the privileges and immunities of the United Nations."

Anadolu Ajansı

Jonathan Fowler, UNRWA spokesperson, said the complex "enjoys no immunity" and that its seizure was carried out "in accordance with Israeli and international law," as the Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected UNRWA’s interpretation.

The operation, Le Figaro said, followed a 2024 law prohibiting UNRWA from any activity on territory controlled by Israel, and it came as Israel had barred UNRWA from operating on its territory and later closed six UNRWA schools operating in East Jerusalem.

France 24 reported that UNRWA denounced the demolition as an "unprecedented attack" and said the buildings were demolished without prior warning, while Israeli forces "stormed" the complex shortly after 7 a.m. and bulldozers entered the site.

In East Jerusalem’s al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan, dozens of Palestinian families face eviction as home demolitions rise to make way for an archaeological-touristic project known as the 'King's Garden,' linked to the expansion of the City of David site, according to اليـوم 24.

The Jerusalem Municipality justifies the demolitions by saying the houses are 'unlicensed,' while residents say obtaining building permits for Palestinians is almost impossible, and the article says the threat looms over most of the neighborhood's 115 houses.

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The pace of demolitions has accelerated since the outbreak of the war following the October 7, 2023 attack, and local activists say the project aims to clear Palestinian residents to broaden the area's tourist and biblical character, while it is run by the settlement organization El'ad, the outlet reported.

BBC described the same area as al-Bustan in Silwan, where it said "Some 59 properties have now been destroyed" since late 2023 and quoted Fayez Awad, 58, saying: "There is no future. They destroyed the future and everything else."

The BBC also quoted local activist Fakhri Abu Diab saying: "The municipality is waging a war of bulldozers against us and our presence," as it described efforts to reach compromise proposals being rejected and residents opting to take sledgehammers to their own properties.

In northern Jerusalem, Anadolu Ajansı reported that Israeli machinery demolished a two-story house inhabited by 13 Palestinians and a commercial workshop in the town of Jaba', north of the occupied East Jerusalem, on the pretext of building without a permit.

“- Published There is the loud din of a demolition below Jerusalem's walled Old City, and from a hillside I watch a large Israeli excavator tearing into a Palestinian house”

BBC

The Jerusalem Governorate told Anadolu that Israeli forces, accompanied by bulldozers, entered the town and carried out the demolition operation that targeted a two-story house inhabited by two families comprising 13 people, and it added that the house has stood for 11 years.

Anadolu Ajansı said Israeli authorities imposed a monetary fine of 10,000 shekels (about $3,000) a week earlier and delivered a demolition notice last Sunday, before the demolition took place on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.

In the BBC’s account of al-Bustan, it said demolition orders enforced by Israeli courts have accelerated along narrow streets and that half of the homes there have now been demolished, with residents facing warnings that the rest would be destroyed.

BBC also quoted Yonatan Mizrahi from Peace Now saying: "Part of the plan is to create a touristic area that very much emphasises the Jewish narrative," as it described Silwan’s significance around the al-Aqsa mosque compound and the City of David.