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The Israel Lands Authority informed UNRWA, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, that the organization must leave the premises it has been using in eastern Jerusalem and pay Israel tens of millions of shekels in delinquent rent for the years it has been using the property.
Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf announced the move on Wednesday, three months after he asked to explore the possibility of ousting the UN refugee agency for political and security reasons, and after just recently finding the path that would enable breaking the contractual agreement that has been in place.
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UNRWA supplies fuel for Gaza across the Rafah crossing
(Photo: Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters)
Israel has accused UNRWA of working with the Hamas terror group and even identified members of agency's staff who participated in the October 7 massacre.
After intelligence information was made public, the United States and some European countries suspended their funding for the agency.
"In accordance with our investigation and with the current information at hand, you are holding 36 dunams (9 acres) of Israel Land Authority property in Jerusalem, without our consent," the legal counsel to the authority said in a letter to UNRWA.
"The land was expropriated by the state of Israel in 2006," the letter stated, adding that buildings were erected on it by UNRWA without permission. "You are required to cease any use of the land, and demolish what was illegally built on it," UNRWA was told.
The agency was given 30 days to vacate the premises. The land authority also demanded 27,125,280 shekels in back rent.