UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem closed after Israeli residents set it on fire

The headquarters of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem remains closed this Friday after Israeli residents set fire to its perimeter twice yesterday when there were employees of that and other United Nations organizations inside.

The general commissioner of that agency, Philippe Lazzarini, who has described the event as “scandalous”, has announced that the headquarters will remain closed “until adequate security is restored”.

For the past two months, Israeli extremists have been staging protests outside the UNRWA compound in Jerusalem, which this week turned more violent when protesters threw stones at UN staff and buildings in the compound.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA has been in the crosshairs of Israel, which accused a dozen agency employees of participating in the Hamas attacks of October 7. These accusations caused many donor countries to cut their funding to UNRWA, although most have resumed it in the absence of conclusive evidence presented by Israel.

The number of people who have fled the town of Rafah, on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, over the past four days has risen to nearly 110,000 amid the “intensification” of bombing by the Israeli Army against the city.