From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 8, 2025
UNRWA chief denounces Israeli police seizure of agency’s Jerusalem assets
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe chief of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees denounces the Israeli authorities’ seizure of assets from its East Jerusalem compound earlier today, which police told news agencies 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 says 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 adds.
Lazzarini has been declared persona non grata by Israeli authorities, who banned his agency from operating inside the country early this year.
Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the @UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem. Police motorcycles, as well as trucks & forklifts, were brought in & all communications were cut. Furniture, IT equipment & other property was…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) December 8, 2025
Israeli police told AFP in a statement that the seizures were “carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure.”
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, disputes 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 says.
Under a 1946 convention, the UN and its assets must not be taxed by host countries.
“Whatever action [is] taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference,” Lazzarini says.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.