Unrwa chief denounces Israeli police's seizure of assets in Jerusalem compound

The head of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees denounced Israel's seizure of assets from its compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday.

"Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the Unrwa compound in East Jerusalem", Philippe Lazzarini said 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 added.

Lazzarini has been declared persona non grata by Israeli authorities, who banned Unrwa from operating inside the country early this year.

Israeli police told AFP in a statement that the seizures were "carried out by the Jerusalem municipality as part of a debt-collection procedure".

"Police are present to secure the municipality's activity," the statement said.

But Roland Friedrich, Unrwa director for the West Bank and east Jerusalem, rejected 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 said.

Under a 1946 convention, the UN and its assets must not be taxed by host countries.

The compound in occupied East Jerusalem has been empty of Unrwa staff since January, when the Israeli law banning its operations took effect.

"Whatever action taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference," Lazzarini said.