Israel temporarily shuts UNRWA clinic in Jerusalem as agency fears permanent closure

The UNRWA clinic in the Old City of Jerusalem in 2025

Nir Hasson reports in Haaretz on 14 January 2026:

Israeli police on Tuesday ordered the closure for 30 days of a clinic operated by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in Jerusalem’s Old City, prompting concern within the agency that the facility may never reopen as part of a broader government campaign against it.

The clinic has operated in the Muslim Quarter since the 1950s and provides medical services to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem who hold refugee status. At the same time, the agency said it has received notices that water and electricity supplies to its remaining facilities in the city will be cut off within two weeks.

Police arrived at the clinic on Tuesday carrying a closure order and demanded that the name UNRWA be removed from the sign on the building. Clinic staff were later summoned for a hearing, after which authorities ordered the facility shut. More than 24,000 patients were treated at the clinic last year. Although the order specifies a one-month closure, the agency fears the shutdown will become permanent as part of a wider government move against it.

Two laws targeting the UN agency took effect about a year ago. One bars UNRWA from operating within the territory of Israel, while the other prohibits Israeli authorities from maintaining contact with the agency. The legislation is also cited in the temporary closure order.

Separately, Jerusalem’s municipal water corporation, Gihon, and the East Jerusalem Electric Company informed UNRWA that water and electricity supplies to its facilities in the city will be halted in two weeks. The affected sites include a clinic in the Shuafat refugee camp, a facility used by agency staff in Sheikh Jarrah, and a vocational training center for boys adjacent to the Qalandiya refugee camp in northern Jerusalem.

The notice from the East Jerusalem Electric Company sparked anger among residents of East Jerusalem, as the company is Palestinian-owned and purchases electricity from Israel for distribution to consumers. In a statement issued Tuesday, the company said the new law left it no choice.

“Failure to comply with these decisions exposes the company to criminal penalties under Israeli law, which could endanger the company’s concession in East Jerusalem, including the possibility of its cancellation and the company’s expulsion from the city,” the statement said.

The training center in Qalandiya, one of the facilities that received the cutoff notice, is among UNRWA’s largest projects in the West Bank. About 350 students from refugee camps in the West Bank study there each year, training in trades including auto mechanics, solar panel installation and electrical work.

“These young people are exactly the ones you do not want to see unemployed in the refugee camps,” Roland Friedrich, UNRWA’s West Bank director, told Haaretz. Without electricity and water, the training center is expected to close.

The legislative push against UNRWA followed Israeli allegations that some agency employees were involved in the October 7 massacre. The United Nations rejected the claims, saying Israel has so far presented evidence of links between agency employees and Hamas in only nine cases out of roughly 13,000 UNRWA staff. The UN said the nine employees were either dismissed or killed by the Israeli military during the war. An independent UN review panel also found no evidence that Hamas had infiltrated the agency.

“These tactics are illegal and are part of a campaign intended to prevent UNRWA from carrying out its mandate,” said Friedrich, who is currently living in Jordan after Israel barred him from returning to Jerusalem. “If these measures take effect, they will bring to an end UNRWA’s decades-long presence in East Jerusalem,” he warned.

About six months ago, following the passage of the two laws, police closed the UNRWA school in the Shoafat refugee camp and five smaller agency-run schools in East Jerusalem. The school building in Shoafat – one of the largest structures in the camp – remains abandoned.

Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres criticized the Knesset’s decision regarding UNRWA and accused Israel of violating international law.  “UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly and … is an integral part of the United Nations,” he said, adding that UNRWA’s legal status “remains unchanged,” and “Israel remains under an obligation to grant it and its staff all the privileges and immunities” set out in the UN Charter.

About six weeks ago, police raided a UN facility in Sheikh Jarrah that had previously been used by UNRWA staff. The raid was carried out to allow enforcement authorities to seize property over alleged debts owed by the United Nations to the Jerusalem municipality. UN officials said the move violated the immunity of UN facilities, arguing that under the UN Charter, they are not subject to municipal property taxes.

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