Israel has approved plans to establish a new military complex on the site of the former UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) headquarters in East Jerusalem, Defense Minister Israel Katz has announced.
Israeli authorities have accused the agency of colluding with Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attack.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seized and partially demolished the UNRWA compound in 2024 after lawmakers passed legislation banning the organization’s activities in areas under Israeli control.
In December, the Defense Ministry signed an agreement with the Jerusalem municipality to establish a new defense headquarters in the city and relocate several military colleges there.
According to Israeli media reports, the new compound will cover around nine acres near Ammunition Hill and include an IDF museum, recruitment offices, and facilities for the defense minister.
Katz said on Sunday that the move represented “a decision of sovereignty, Zionism and security,” arguing that there was “nothing more symbolic or just” than establishing defense institutions “on the ruins of the UNRWA compound,” which was originally created to support Palestinians displaced during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini condemned the destruction of the office as “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law.”
While the UN denied any institutional support for Hamas, UNRWA said following an internal probe in 2024 that available evidence indicated that nine of its employees “may have been involved in the attacks of October 7.”
The agency operates schools, clinics, and aid programs for Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. More than 2.3 million people have been displaced by Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and over one million are sheltering in UNRWA facilities. More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 2023, according to the UN.
UN agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned of catastrophic conditions in the enclave, including widespread hunger and overcrowded refugee camps. Israel has denied accusations of deliberately targeting civilians and argued that Hamas has stolen food aid and obstructed humanitarian deliveries to Gaza.