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Israel Begins Demolitions Inside UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem

A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Begins Demolitions Inside UNRWA Headquarters in East Jerusalem

A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows a demolished structure inside the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on January 20, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli bulldozers began demolitions at the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem on Tuesday, in what the organization called an "unprecedented attack".

UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said in a statement to AFP that Israeli forces "stormed into" the compound shortly after 7am (0500 GMT) and ousted security guards from the site, before bulldozers entered and began demolishing buildings.

"This is an unprecedented attack against UNRWA and its premises. And it also constitutes a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations," Fowler said.

"This should be a wake-up call," he added.

"What happens today to UNRWA can happen tomorrow to any other international organization or diplomatic mission around the world."

AFP photos showed heavy machinery demolishing structures at the compound, where an Israeli flag fluttered overhead.

An AFP photographer reported that far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had made a brief visit to the site.

"This is a historic day, a day of celebration, and a very important day for governance in Jerusalem," Ben Gvir was quoted as saying in a statement.

"For years, these supporters of terrorism were here, and today they are being removed from here along with everything they built in this place. This is what will happen to every supporter of terrorism," he added.

Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas, claiming that some of its employees took part in the group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

A series of investigations, including one led by France's former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" at UNRWA but stressed Israel had not provided conclusive evidence for its headline allegation.

- 'No immunity' -

In a statement, the Israeli foreign ministry defended the demolitions and said "the state of Israel owns the Jerusalem compound".

"Today's move does not constitute a new policy, but rather the implementation of existing Israeli legislation concerning UNRWA-Hamas."

The compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has been empty of UNRWA staff since January 2025, when a law banning its operations took effect after a months-long battle over its work in the Gaza Strip.

"UNRWA-Hamas had already ceased its operations at this site and no longer had any UN personnel or UN activity there," the foreign ministry said.

"The compound does not enjoy any immunity and the seizure of this compound by Israeli authorities was carried out in accordance with both Israeli and international law," it added.

Though the UNRWA ban applies in east Jerusalem due to its annexation by Israel, the agency still operates in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

In early December, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini denounced the seizure by Israeli authorities of assets from the compound, which police told AFP was part of a debt-collection operation.

In a post on X, Lazzarini said authorities took "furniture, IT equipment and other property", while the compound's UN flag was replaced with an Israeli one.

At the time, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement strongly condemning the "unauthorized entry", saying the compound remained "United Nations premises and is inviolable and immune from any other form of interference".

Months after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli authorities declared Guterres and Lazzarini as persona non grata in Israel.

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Arab World

Russian Mariner Held After Houthi Red Sea Attack Leaves Yemen for Home

A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)
A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)
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Russian Mariner Held After Houthi Red Sea Attack Leaves Yemen for Home

A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)
A vessel said to be Greek-operated, Liberia-flagged Eternity C sinks in a footage released by Yemen's Houthis, in the Red Sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 9, 2025. (Handout via Reuters)

A Russian ‌mariner detained for around eight months after being on board a ship attacked by Yemen's Houthi militants has left the country for Russia following medical treatment in Sanaa, the Houthi-run foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The mariner, identified by Russian media as Aleksei Galaktionov, was a crew member of a ‌Greek-operated cargo ‌ship that was sunk by ‌the ⁠Houthis in July ⁠2025. He was wounded in the attack.

"The Russian citizen was transported on a United Nations aircraft, in coordination with the UN envoy," the foreign ministry said, according to the ⁠Houthi-run news agency, adding that his ‌departure was ‌arranged after he had completed treatment.

It said the ‌move followed contacts with Russian ‌officials and with counterparts in Iran.

The crew of the ship was released in December, an official with the ship's operator and ‌a maritime security source told Reuters.

The Iran-aligned Houthis sank the ⁠Liberia-flagged ⁠Eternity C, which had 22 crew and three armed guards on board, after attacking it with sea drones and rocket-propelled grenades over two consecutive days.

The Houthis have attacked more than 100 ships in what they said was a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war. They halted attacks after a ceasefire was announced in October last year.

Arab World

Pro-Palestinian Flotilla’s New Gaza Mission to Start in Spain on April 12

The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)
The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)
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Pro-Palestinian Flotilla’s New Gaza Mission to Start in Spain on April 12

The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)
The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Hamas, drew worldwide attention. (Reuters)

A flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists who attempted to reach Gaza last year said on Thursday they would launch a new mission to the devastated territory from Barcelona on April 12.

The Global Sumud Flotilla's first weeks-long journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, blockaded by Israel during the war against Palestinian group Hamas, drew worldwide attention.

Israel's interception of their boats and arrests of the activists as they approached Gaza, which suffered severe shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, sparked international condemnation.

The group, which described its first attempt as a humanitarian mission, said the latest trip starting in Spain's second city would gather more than 80 boats and 1,000 international participants.

"The cost of inaction is too high to bear," it said in a statement, adding that a land-based movement would join the maritime action to create pressure in multiple countries.

"As Gaza endures intensifying blockade, violence, and deprivation, the mission is a principled, nonviolent intervention: a defense of human dignity, a call for humanitarian access, and a demand for international accountability," the group said.

Gaza is under a fragile ceasefire agreed last October, which followed two years of devastating conflict sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people Israel, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures tallied by AFP. Palestinian fighters also abducted 251 hostages.

The retaliatory Israeli military campaign killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.

Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

Gaza's health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed more than 700 Palestinians since the truce. Israel says five of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.

Arab World

Israel Says It Has Struck Over 3,500 Targets in Lebanon in Past Month

This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says It Has Struck Over 3,500 Targets in Lebanon in Past Month

This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)
This picture taken from the southern Lebanese area of Tyre shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of Naqoura on March 31, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli military said Friday it had struck more than 3,500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with the Hezbollah group began.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli attack that killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Israel has responded with massive strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive.

The Israeli military said Friday it had killed approximately 1,000 militants in Lebanon over the past month, with strikes targeting what it described as "terrorist infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, launch positions, and command and control headquarters" belonging to Hezbollah.

Lebanon's health ministry said on Thursday that 1,345 people had been killed and 4,040 wounded since the start of the war, including 1,129 men, 91 women and 125 children.

The ministry said the toll also included 53 healthcare workers.

Hezbollah has so far not announced its losses.

On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem would pay an "extraordinarily heavy price" for escalating attacks during the ongoing Jewish holidays.

"The Hezbollah terrorist organization you now lead, and its supporters in Lebanon, will bear the full and severe consequences," Katz said.

His warning followed claims by Hezbollah that it had carried out a series of rocket attacks on northern Israel late Wednesday and early Thursday, as Israeli Jews began marking Passover.

Katz also reiterated that Israeli forces "will clear Hezbollah and its supporters from southern Lebanon, maintain Israeli security control throughout the Litani area, and dismantle Hezbollah's military capabilities across Lebanon".

Eighteen European countries on Thursday urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting as their latest conflict reached one month and with fears over Israeli plans to occupy part of southern Lebanon post-war.

"Israeli military operations in Lebanon and Hezbollah's attacks must cease," the foreign ministers of the countries including Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland and Ireland said in a joint statement.

"We urge Israel to fully respect Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and call on all parties, both Hezbollah and Israel, to halt military action," the statement said.

The countries include Spain, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia and Sweden.