Israel police raid UNRWA in eastern Jerusalem for ignoring alleged tax debt, place Israeli flag on building

According to the police and the Jerusalem municipality, law enforcement entered the facilities to collect property taxes of NIS 11 million ($3.4 million) after multiple warnings were ignored.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli police raided UNRWA facilities in eastern Jerusalem and placed an Israeli flag on the premises, replacing the UNRWA flag, the Times of Israel reported.

Jerusalem police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told AFP in a statement that the raid was “carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure.”

According to the police and the Jerusalem municipality, law enforcement entered the facilities to collect property taxes of NIS 11 million ($3.4 million) after multiple warnings were ignored.

“This is a substantial debt that required collection after repeated requests, warnings and numerous opportunities given to settle it, which were not answered,” the municipality told Reuters.

However, Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA Affairs, West Bank, denied that any property tax was owed and argued that the organization is exempt.

“There is no debt because the United Nations — and UNRWA is part of the United Nations and is a U.N. 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 said.

Israel ended its relationship with UNRWA after the agency’s proven ties to Hamas came to light and ordered the organization to vacate its eastern Jerusalem offices in January 2025.

The UN agency responsible for assisting Palestinians delivers schooling, medical services and humanitarian support to millions of people descended from refugees across Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

During the Iron Swords war, Israeli intelligence discovered, according to the IDF, that 450 terrorists were employed directly by UNRWA. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services confirmed that nine UNRWA workers took part in the Oct. 7 atrocities.

In addition, the IDF regularly discovered that Hamas infrastructure was hidden beneath UNRWA schools and facilities in Gaza.