The primary United Countries company that aids Palestinians, referred to as UNRWA, stated on Thursday that it had quickly closed its headquarters in East Jerusalem for the protection of its body of workers later portions of the compound have been i’m ready on hearth following weeks of assaults.
“This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem,” stated the chief of the company, Philippe Lazzarini, on social media. The fireplace brought about intensive injury to the out of doors farmlands of the compound, Mr. Lazzarini stated, however that negative employees from UNRWA or alternative U.N. companies suffered accidents. He added that probably the most employees “had to put out the fire themselves as it took the Israeli fire extinguishers and police a while before they turned up.”
The assault put the lives of U.N. body of workers at “serious risk” and got here two days later protesters threw stones at body of workers contributors on the compound, Mr. Lazzarini stated.
Protests via Israeli settlers calling for UNRWA’s closure had been proceeding for months. “On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns,” Mr. Lazzarini stated in Thursday’s social media submit. He added that below global legislation, it’s Israel’s accountability “as an occupying power to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected at all times.”
Many Israeli officers have known as for years for UNRWA to be dismantled, and the company misplaced investment from some donor nations previous this presen later Israel accused a bundle of its workers of being concerned within the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7. An isolated evaluate commissioned via the U.N. and immune in April discovered that Israel had now not equipped any proof to backup its additional accusations that many UNRWA body of workers contributors have been contributors of terrorist organizations.
