Israel plans to turn UNRWA's Jerusalem office into housing units. UN says it hasn't been notified

The relationship between Israel and UNRWA, the U.N. Palestinian-only aid and social-services agency, soured in the wake of revelations that staff were involved in October 7

(Oct. 11, 2024 / JNS) — Although the Israel Land Authority, a governmental body, announced on Thursday that it plans to turn the U.N. Relief and Works Agency field office in Jerusalem’s Ma’alot Dafna neighbourhood into a complex with 1,440 housing units, the United Nations told JNS that UNRWA has received no official notification from the Jewish state about its facility being confiscated.

The Israeli governmental body informed UNRWA in May that it had to vacate the premises within 30 days and pay the Jewish state rent, for the years it used the facility, of about US$7 million.

But Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, told JNS during a press briefing on Thursday that the global body hasn’t heard directly from the Israel Land Authority.

“We’ve only seen through the media,” Haq told JNS.

UNRWA has “not received any formal notification” of the plan to turn the field office into a housing complex nor of imminent confiscation or eviction, according to Haq. The U.N. spokesman reiterated the general U.N. position that “Israel is under an obligation to honor and respect” the inviolability of U.N. premises under international law.

“That inviolability is not subject to any qualification, limitation or exceptions,” Haq told JNS.