UNRWA's West Bank Director Says Israel Seized Agency's Last Major Jerusalem Facility

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA's director of operations for the West Bank, told Anadolu Agency that Israel has seized the agency's last major facility in Jerusalem, according to the outlet's report.

The claim, as relayed by Anadolu, is the core fact on the record so far. The report does not specify which building was taken, when the seizure occurred, or what legal order or military authority Israel cited. UNRWA has not published a separate statement confirming the loss of the site at the time of this report, and Occupation Watch has not independently verified the seizure.

Israel seized the refugee agency's last major facility in Jerusalem, the UNRWA official said, according to Anadolu Agency.

Friedrich's remarks come against a backdrop that is well documented: Israel has moved for more than a year to restrict and, in some cases, shut down UNRWA operations inside Israel and in Jerusalem, following legislation passed by the Knesset in 2024 barring the agency from operating on Israeli-controlled territory and cutting off contact between Israeli authorities and UNRWA staff. UNRWA has said those measures have forced it to relocate or abandon facilities that for decades served Palestinian refugees with health clinics, schools, and administrative offices.

What is not established in this report is the specific legal mechanism behind this latest seizure, whether it was carried out under military order, police action, or another administrative process, or what UNRWA intends to do in response. Anadolu's account attributes the underlying claim of "ongoing breaches of international law" to Friedrich in its framing, but the material available does not include a direct quotation laying out which legal violations he is alleging or the evidence behind them.

Occupation Watch is treating the seizure itself as an attributed claim from a named, on-record UNRWA official, not yet independently corroborated by documentary evidence, a UNRWA statement, or Israeli government confirmation. If Israel confirms the action or UNRWA releases further detail on the facility's location, its history, or the order used to take it, this record will be updated.

The loss of what is described as UNRWA's last major Jerusalem facility would mark a significant step in the agency's retreat from a city where it has operated since the 1950s, serving Palestinian refugee communities with services Israel has increasingly moved to restrict.