LOC01:48
22:48 GMT
NEW YORK, Jan 20 (KUNA) - UN Secretary-General Ant?nio Guterres condemned the "in the strongest terms" the Israeli occupation's demolition early Tuesday of the headquarters of UN agency UNRWA in occupied East Jerusalem.
The UN chief has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that the compound remains UN premises and is "inviolable and immune from any form of interference."
"The Secretary-General views as wholly unacceptable the continued escalatory actions against UNRWA," the statement from his office continued.
Guterres called on Israel to halt the demolition and restore the compound to the UN "without delay".
Meanwhile, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini described it as an "unprecedented attack" against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law.
The move represents "a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, by the State of Israel", the UNRWA Commissioner-General said on X.
Echoing those concerns, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tأ¼rk expressed his "outrage" at the incident, which marks a sharp escalation of tensions between the Israeli authorities and UNRWA.
"It compounds what we've been seeing for a while; attacking aid groups and UN actors who are trying to help," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the High Commissioner.
Earlier, Israeli occupation authorities demolished mobile offices inside the headquarters of the UNRWA in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in the occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli machinery, accompanied by the so-called Israel Land Authority, carried out the demolition of the mobile offices within the UN agency's compound, removed the UN flag, and hoisted the Israeli flag, citing an alleged lack of licensing, said the Al-Quds Governorate.
This was despite a ruling last October by the UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel was obliged "to facilitate UNRWA's operations, not hinder or prevent them. The court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem," Lazzarini noted.
"What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world," he continued.
"International law has come under increasing attack for too long and is risking irrelevancy in the absence of response by Member States." (end)
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