Overview
- Israel announced on Jerusalem Day that it will build a 3.6-hectare defence complex on the site of the former UNRWA East Jerusalem headquarters.
- The government says the site will host a military induction office, a defence minister’s facility and a museum to strengthen Israel’s defence presence in Jerusalem.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the decision as a breach of the inviolability of United Nations premises under an International Court of Justice advisory opinion and called for the compound to be returned to the UN.
- The compound served as UNRWA’s East Jerusalem headquarters from 1952 until UN staff were forced to leave after Israeli legal and administrative steps in 2024–2025; Israeli forces seized the site in December 2025 and bulldozers demolished the headquarters in January 2026.
- The move is likely to deepen diplomatic and legal disputes, further hamper UNRWA’s ability to aid Palestinian refugees and increase tensions in East Jerusalem, where the announcement coincided with Palestinian Nakba commemorations.