It comes after Israeli authorities “stormed and demolished” buildings in the compound last week, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.

“Allowing this unprecedented destruction is the latest attack on the UN in the ongoing attempt to dismantle the status of Palestine Refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and erase their history,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

In a short statement, the senior UN official added that there were “no limits to the defiance of the United Nations” and international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Last Tuesday’s move by Israeli authorities to send bulldozers into the Sheikh Jarrah compound where they tore down UNRWA structures prompted swift condemnation from senior UN officials including Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.

Ahead of that dramatic development, on 14 January, Israeli forces entered an UNRWA health centre in East Jerusalem and ordered it to close. The agency reported that its workers were “terrified” and that the deteriorating situation was a direct result of legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in December, stepping up existing anti-UNRWA laws adopted in 2024. 

UNRWA premises have also been targeted by arsonists amid a “large-scale disinformation campaign” against it by Israel, the agency’s Commissioner-General has previously maintained.

This was despite a ruling last October by the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel was obliged “to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them. The court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem,” Mr. Lazzarini noted.

Responding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini described it as an “unprecedented attack” against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law.

The move represents “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, by the State of Israel”, the UNRWA Commissioner-General said on X.

The same thing could happen to any other organization or diplomatic mission “anywhere around the world”, Mr. Lazzarini warned. “This must be a wake-up call,” he stressed.   

Human rights chief’s ‘outrage’

Echoing those concerns, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed his “outrage” at the incident, which marks a sharp escalation of tensions between the Israeli authorities and UNRWA.

“It compounds what we’ve been seeing for a while; attacking aid groups and UN actors who are trying to help,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the High Commissioner.

On 14 January, Israeli forces entered an UNRWA health centre in East Jerusalem and ordered it to close. At the time of the incident, the agency said its workers were “terrified”. In the coming weeks, water and power supplies to UNRWA facilities are scheduled to be cut, including to buildings used for health care and education.

“This is a direct result of legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in December, which stepped up existing anti-UNRWA laws adopted in 2024,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

Previously, UNRWA premises have been targeted by arsonists amid a “large-scale disinformation campaign” against it by Israel, the agency’s Commissioner-General maintained.

This was despite a ruling last October by the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel was obliged “to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them. The court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem,” Mr. Lazzarini noted.

“What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world,” he continued. “International law has come under increasing attack for too long and is risking irrelevancy in the absence of response by Member States.”

Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the facility, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on the social media platform X.

Police motorcycles, trucks and forklifts were brought in and all communications were cut, he said, while furniture, IT equipment and other property were seized. 

The UN flag was pulled down and replaced with an Israeli flag.

Israel urged to recognise UN immunity

UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement strongly condemning the unauthorised entry.

“This compound remains United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference,” he said.

“I urge Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to restore, preserve and uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and to refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises, in line with its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and its other obligations under international law.”

‘Blatant disregard’

“This latest action represents a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations Member State to protect and respect the inviolability of UN premises,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

“To allow this represents a new challenge to international law, one that creates a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present across the world.”

UNRWA provides health, education and other services to roughly six million Palestine refugees in five locations in the Middle East, including the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The agency has come under attack following the latest hostilities in Gaza, which began after the deadly 7 October 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel.

Mr. Lazzarini said the East Jerusalem compound has been vacant since the beginning of the year after the Israeli parliament passed “anti-UNRWA legislation”.  Read more about the laws here.

This was preceded by months of harassment, including arson attacks in 2024, as well as hateful demonstrations and intimidation, supported by a large-scale disinformation campaign.

UN premises are inviolable

“However, whatever action taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference,” the UNRWA chief said.

Israel is a party to the Convention on the Privileges & Immunities of the UN – the international treaty that “makes UN premises inviolable – in other words, immune from search and/or seizure – and makes UN property and assets immune from legal process,” he said.

He added that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “has also underscored that Israel is obliged to cooperate with UNRWA and other UN agencies.”  

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said that is what one of its workers told him on Thursday morning.  

This sobering comment comes amidst increasingly severe malnutrition for children and adults throughout the Gaza Strip.  

“When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food and care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold,” Mr. Lazzarini said in a tweet.   

Bombs are not the only thing that kills

Gaza has faced relentless bombardment for almost three years, but Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a briefing on Wednesday that it is not just the bombs which are killing Palestinians.  

Starvation is “another killer”.

Reportedly at least 100 people have died from hunger, and WHO has documented at least 21 cases of children under the age of five dying from malnutrition.  

Additionally, Mr. Lazzarini said one in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, a number increasing every day that unhindered humanitarian aid is denied.  

“Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen … Children must be protected – not killed, and not left to starve,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UN Children Fund’s (UNICEF) regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. 

Between early March and mid-May – 80 consecutive days – no aid was allowed into the Gaza Strip, pushing the population to the brink of famine. While minimal aid has since entered, Tedros emphasised that it is not enough.  

“Food deliveries have resumed intermittently, but remain far below what is needed for the survival of the population,” he said. 

Safe havens are no longer safe

Tedros reported that between 27 May and 21 July, over 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed while trying to access food.  

Many of these have died in or around sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American-run and Israeli-backed aid distribution organization which the UN has repeatedly said violates well-established principles of international humanitarian law.

“Parents tell us their children cry themselves to sleep from hunger. Food distribution sites have become places of violence,” Tedros said.  

In addition to risking their lives when seeking out desperately needed humanitarian assistance, hospitals – which have been systematically targeted, according to UNFPA – are no longer safe havens.  

“Hospitals, which are supposed to be safe havens, have regularly been attacked, and many are no longer functioning,” Tedros said.  

He recalled that on Monday, a WHO staff residence, a humanitarian site, was attacked, with male personnel being stripped and interrogated, women and children forced to flee on foot in the midst of violence and one WHO staff member detained. 

“Despite this, WHO and other UN agencies are staying in Gaza. Our commitment is firm. UN agencies must be protected while operating in conflict zones,”  Tedros said.  

Frontline workers face hunger

In addition to the Palestinians in Gaza who are “emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying”, aid workers are also feeling the effects of the sustained lack of supplies.

Most UNRWA workers are surviving on a meagre bowl of lentils each day, Mr. Lazzarini said, leading many of them to faint from hunger at work.  

“When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,” he said.  

Some parents are too hungry to care for their children, and even those who do reach clinics for treatment are often too tired to follow the advice provided.  

Desperately needed aid

While UN teams were able to collect some flour at the border on Wednesday, the aid is “nowhere near sufficient” to meet the basic survival needs of Palestinians and humanitarian workers in Gaza, said Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.  

A trickle of fuel has been allowed in during the past few weeks but no tents or other shelter materials have been allowed in for over 20 weeks.  

Mr. Dujarric said that UN humanitarian teams trying to bring aid into the Strip continue to face logistical and bureaucratic impediments from Israeli authorities, ongoing hostilities which create access constraints and other challenges.  

Mr. Lazzarini noted that UNRWA alone has 6,000 trucks of desperately needed food and medical supplies in Jordan and Egypt. He called for this and other aid to be immediately let through.

“Families are no longer coping. They are breaking down, unable to survive. Their existence is threatened,” he said.  “Allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” 

EPA

According to the agency, heavily armed personnel entered the schools in Shu’fat refugee camp on Thursday while classes were in session, forcing more than 550 Palestinian girls and boys – some as young as six – out of their classrooms.

One UNRWA staff member was detained, and all of the agency-run schools in East Jerusalem were subsequently evacuated as a precaution.

‘Assault on children’

“This is an assault on children. An assault on education,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.

“Storming schools and forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law.”

He added that by enforcing the closure orders issued against UNRWA schools in April, Israeli authorities are denying Palestinian children their basic right to learn.

“These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations. UNRWA schools must continue to be open to safeguard an entire generation of children,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

Immediate risk

Roland Friedrich, Director for UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, warned the Palestine refugee children are at an “immediate risk” of losing their access to education.

“Israel’s actions today are a grave violation of its obligations as a UN Member State under international law,” he said in a social media post.

He called on the international community to uphold UNRWA’s mandate and humanitarian space in the West Bank.

Gaza: Water, sanitation crisis deepens

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues unabated, with more than three-quarters of households reporting reduced access to water, ten weeks into Israel’s aid blockade.

A survey conducted by humanitarians in April found that 90 per cent of families faced critical water shortages, often having to choose between basic hygiene and cooking. They also reported an increase in reliance on private vendors for drinking water – with public infrastructure in ruins.

Fuel shortages and limited access to repair equipment, have further complicated the situation. The southern Gaza desalination plant remains offline due to a severed power line, while key water pipes damaged earlier this year have yet to be repaired.

Overflowing waste and rodent infestation

The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, also reported widespread sanitation issues, including a lack of functioning latrines, soap shortages and sewage overflows in hard-hit areas like Jabalia and Nazla.

Overcrowded shelters are facing rodent and insect infestations, further raising fears of disease outbreaks amid strained medical services, OCHA said, warning of a looming public health disaster if the crisis continues unchecked.

“Palestinian journalists continue to do heroic work, paying a heavy price; 170 have been killed to date,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. “The free flow of information and independent reporting are key to facts and accountability during conflicts.”

In his appeal, Mr. Lazzarini noted that in the more than 18 months since war in Gaza began, sparked by unprecedented Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, reliable reporting has been overtaken by propaganda and “dehumanizing” messages about the war.

Spike in attacks, censorship

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office, OHCHR, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, also expressed deep concerns about the dangers facing journalists there – although the situation “has always been very difficult”, he maintained.

“They have been subject to oppression in many instances we’ve recorded – killings and censorship and detention,” he told UN News. “But we have also recorded a massive spike in such operations – attacks, killings, detention and censorship – since 7 October 2023.”

Mr. Sunghay noted that OHCHR data indicates that 209 journalists have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the higher number reflecting all journalists killed on duty or at home.

The situation for journalists in the West Bank is also critical, with reports of arrested reporters receiving simulated beatings and threats of sexual violence against women journalists by Israeli and Palestinian authorities, the OHCHR office noted.

“Journalists are civilians and are protected from attacks under international humanitarian law unless they’re directly participating in hostilities,” Mr. Sunghay said. “The intentional killings of journalists is a war crime, and this is something that we have highlighted on several occasions.”

All aid still cut

In a related development, other UN agencies issued fresh alerts about the mounting impact of Israel’s six-week-old decision to cut off all food and other supplies from entering the shattered territory. Fuel is also included in the embargo and supplies are dwindling, with “bakeries shutting, hospitals running out of medicine” and gasoline for generators to keep their machinery working, said UNRWA.

Since Israeli bombing of Gaza resumed on 18 March, about 500,000 people have been newly displaced “or uprooted once more”, said spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Stephanie Tremblay. Her comments came as Israel’s defence minister reportedly said that troops will remain in Gaza’s so-called security zones indefinitely, along with Lebanon and Syria.

Aid deliveries also continue to be impacted by Israeli refusals, with only two out of six missions that had been coordinated with the Israeli authorities allowed to go ahead on Wednesday. “The remaining four were denied” including one mission to retrieve urgently needed fuel from Rafah, noted Ms. Tremblay, citing the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

Some 30 per cent of the Gaza Strip is now a security buffer where Palestinian civilians cannot live, the Israeli military reportedly announced.

Positive developments

Amid ongoing Israeli bombardment, military manoeuvres and evacuation orders, UN aid teams highlighted their continuing efforts to help the people of war-torn Gaza, despite encountering immense difficulties.

In its latest update, OCHA said that at least 51,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war on 7 October 2023 and 116,343 Palestinians injured. This includes 1,630 people killed and 4,302 injured since the escalation of hostilities on 18 March, it said, citing Gaza health authorities

Doctors recount never-ending incidents of patients they could have saved, if medical supplies were available.

“The lack of heavy machinery and equipment hinder rescue efforts of the wounded and missing while casualties continue to fall due to continued bombardment by Israeli forces, including on tents for displaced people,” OCHA said.

Meanwhile, the aid community’s Nutrition Cluster has warned that the rapid deterioration of children’s nutrition status “is already visible”. 

In March alone, 3,696 children were newly admitted for acute malnutrition out of 91,769 children screened. This marks a sharp increase compared with February, when 2,027 children were admitted out of a total of 83,823 screened. 

Mr. Lazzarini made the remarks in a social media post, in which he noted that the siege, which is preventing food, medicines, water and fuel from entering the occupied Palestinian territory, has lasted longer than blockades imposed during the first phase of the war.

The UNRWA chief pointed out that people in Gaza depend on imports via Israel for their survival. “Every day that passes without the entry of aid means more children go to bed hungry, diseases spread and deprivation deepens.” Gaza, he added, is inching closer to an acute hunger crisis.

The current conflict began after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. In those attacks, 1,195 people were killed in Israel and over 250 taken hostage. In the subsequent military operations in Gaza, at least 50,00 Palestinians are believed to have been killed.

After a brief ceasefire, during which several hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, a bombing campaign and ground operation against Gaza has resumed. Since then, hundreds of civilians, including children, have been killed.

Sam Rose, UNRWA Acting Director of Affairs in the enclave, warned on Friday that, if the ceasefire is not restored, it will lead to “large-scale loss of life, damage to infrastructure and property, increased risk of infectious disease, and massive trauma for the one million children and for the two million civilians who live in Gaza.”

Describing the banning of aid as a “collective punishment” on Gaza’s population, overwhelmingly “children, women and ordinary men,” Mr. Lazzarini called for the siege to be lifted, for Hamas to release the remaining hostages and for humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to be brought into Gaza uninterrupted and at scale.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has accused Israel of weaponising humanitarian aid with its blockade of goods and electricity into Gaza.

Speaking in Geneva, Philippe Lazzarini warned of a renewed hunger crisis if aid supplies did not resume.

Israel stopped the entry of all aid at the beginning of the month, accusing Hamas of rejecting a US proposal to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

It also cut off electricity over the weekend – a move the UK and Germany have condemned – with Energy Minister Eli Cohen saying the move aimed to “bring back all the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after [the war].”

When the truce began, aid supplies increased tenfold, easing food shortages and restoring some health services.

Now those supplies have been blocked and electricity to a major water desalination plant has been cut.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesman said this would substantially reduce the availability of drinking water in Gaza.

“The Secretary-General is very concerned about Israel’s decision to limit the electricity supply going into Gaza. This latest decision will substantially reduce the availability of drinking water in the Gaza Strip,” said Stephane Dujarric.

“Starting today, the facility is set to run on backup generators, which will reduce water production capacity. Restoring this connection is vital for tens of thousands of families and children.”

The Israeli government has further said it has not ruled out cutting off water supplies.

Mr Lazzarini also criticised Israel’s move to cut off aid and electricity, saying an increasing impact on the population could be expected.

“Obviously, the risk is that we go back to a situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

“Whatever the intent is, it’s clearly a weaponisation of humanitarian aid into Gaza. We have seen the situation is deteriorating very, very quickly.”

Israel has banned Unrwa amid claims some of its staff support Hamas and says other aid agencies should step in. But they too are being blocked from Gaza.

Mr Lazzarini said the only viable alternative to the agency was “capable Palestinian institutions… in a Palestinian state”.

Unrwa was continuing to operate in Gaza and the West Bank, he said, adding that the Israeli ban had left it facing “serious operational challenges”.

Israeli negotiators were due in Qatar for talks on extending the ceasefire in Gaza.

Israel wants Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of their ceasefire.

But Hamas wants to start negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase, which would see the release of the remaining hostages from Gaza, withdrawal of Israeli forces and a permanent end to war.

Hamas is believed to be holding 24 living hostages as well as the bodies of 35 others.

Hamas’s attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and saw 251 people taken hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters.

Agency teams have worked around the clock to provide services to a people who are overwhelmed following 15 months of constant bombardment, forced displacement, and lack of critical supplies, the agency said in a press release.

“This reflects UNRWA’s commitment to supporting families in Gaza through this unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” said Sam Rose, UNRWA’s acting director of Gaza Affairs, speaking from an UNRWA health centre in southern Gaza.

“Despite every political and logistical challenge to the Agency, UNRWA remains resolute in its mission to provide essential services to families who need them now more than ever.”

Last October, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, adopted two bills banning UNRWA from working in Israeli territory and enforcing a no-contact policy between national authorities and agency representatives. The laws took effect in January.

Two million reached

In a significant milestone, and in close coordination with other humanitarian partners, UNRWA has now provided food assistance to two million people, or over 90 per cent of the population, helping to bring some improvement to overall food security.

The agency has also restored healthcare access to nearly 180,000 people in Khan Younis, Rafah and Gaza City through the re-opening of health centres.

In addition, agency teams reached more than half a million with blankets, mattresses, floor mats, clothes, cooking equipment, and tarpaulins to protect from the rain.

All agencies scale up support

The recent polio campaign in Gaza concluded successfully, reaching over 600,000 children under the age of 10, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) provided supplies to three hospitals and five health partners, benefiting 250,000 people across the Strip. Additionally, WHO supported the expansion of triage and emergency departments in Al-Shifa hospital with tents and 20 extra beds.

Children’s agency UNICEF has delivered essential health kits, paediatric medicines, and newborn supplies for over 20,000 people at Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza.

UN partners have also scaled up food security, distributing 860,000 cooked meals daily – a 10 per cent increase from the previous week.

Back to school, for some

The World Food Programme (WFP) has made subsidised bread available at 24 retail shops in the South and re-established four food distribution points in the north.

Efforts to improve water and sanitation continue, with two water points established and expanded in North Gaza governorate, and two sections of water networks repaired in Khan Younis.

As of Wednesday, 100,000 children have enrolled in school, marking a return to in-person learning after 16 months. A total of 165 public schools have reopened across Gaza.

West Bank emergency: 40,000 forcibly displaced

In the West Bank, Israeli forces’ operations in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas have led to further casualties and displacement, hindering access to essential services.

The UN stresses the importance of respecting international law and protecting civilians.

Listen below to audio from Ajith Sunghay who is the top UN human rights official for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He told UN News on Thursday that with 40,000 now forcibly displaced from refugee camps in the West Bank, it seems “return is not an option” for at least a year as Israel forces dig in.