The headquarters of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem remains closed this Friday after residents Israelis set fire on Thursday even twice inside its perimeter, at a time when there were United Nations employees inside.

“In light of this second egregious incident in less than a week, I have made the decision to close our complex until adequate security is reestablished,” reported UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini, who called the event “scandalous.”

Although there have been no victimsexplained, the fire has caused extensive damage to the exterior areas and posed a serious risk to its personnel, since the UNRWA headquarters has a gasoline and diesel station for your car fleet.

Lazzarini explained that the headquarters director himself and other employees they had to put out the flames themselves, since the Israeli firefighters and the police took a while to appear. “A crowd accompanied by armed men was seen outside the complex singing ‘Burn the United Nations’“, Lazzarini indicated about the perpetrators of the attack, scenes that have also been spread on social networks.

“This is a scandalous fact. Once again, the lives of UN personnel were at serious risk (…). In recent months he has regularly suffered harassment and intimidation and on several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with firearms,” ​​he denounced.

For the past two months, Israeli extremists have been organizing protests in front of UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, called by an elected member of the Jerusalem municipality, which this week turned more violent when protesters stones were thrown at UN staff and the buildings of the complex.

Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA has been in the crosshairs of Israel, which accused a dozen agency employees of participating in the Hamas attacks of October 7, alleges that more than two hundred of its staff have ties to Islamists and He does not hide his intention to close it. These accusations made many donor countries they will cut off your financing to UNRWA, although most have returned to it due to the lack of conclusive evidence presented by Israel.

Lazzarini has insisted that it is the responsibility of the State of Israel, “as the occupying power”, to ensure that United Nations personnel and facilities are protected “in accordance with international law” and has called for the perpetrators of the attacks be investigated and held accountable.

Condemnation of the EU and Palestine

He too European Commissioner for Crisis ManagementJanez Lenarcic, has condemned the attack on the UNRWA headquarters and has called on the Israeli authorities to “guarantee the safety of United Nations personnel and its facilities and to prosecute those responsible for the attack.”

For its part, the Palestinian government has stated that the attack “It is part of the systematic crimes and widespread attacks of occupation” against both the Palestinian people and the agencies working in the area and has “condemned it in the strongest terms.” “These Israeli attacks against UNRWA, its headquarters, facilities and personnel must stop, and “The international community must hold Israel responsible for the life and safety of the organization and its employees, taking the necessary measures to hold it responsible for the destruction of its facilities (…) and the murder of more than 188 employees,” reads a statement from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.