JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police forcibly entered the compound of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem early Monday, escalating a campaign against an organization that has been banned from operating on Israeli territory.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said in a statement that “sizeable numbers” of Israeli forces including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts entered the compound in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and cut communications to the compound.
“The unauthorized and forceful entry by Israeli security forces is an unacceptable violation of UNRWA’s privileges and immunities as a U.N. agency,” the agency said.
Photos taken by an Associated Press photographer show police cars on the street and an Israeli flag planted on the compound's roof. Photos provided by UNRWA staff show a group of Israeli police officers inside the compound.
Police said in a statement they entered for a “debt-collection procedure” spearheaded by Jerusalem's municipal government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The raid was the latest action in Israel's campaign against the agency, which provides aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
The agency was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. UNRWA supporters say Israel hopes to erase the Palestinian refugee issue by dismantling the agency. Israel says the refugees should be permanently resettled outside its borders.
For more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war that began Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA was the main lifeline for Gaza's population, which was largely reliant on aid because of humanitarian crisis unleashed by heavy Israeli bombardment and restrictions on the entry of goods.
Throughout the war, Israel has accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, allegations the U.N. has denied. After months of mounting attacks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, Israel formally banned it from operating on its territory in January.
The U.S., formerly the largest donor to UNRWA, halted funding to the agency in early 2024.
UNRWA has since struggled to continue its work in Gaza, with other U.N. agencies including WFP and UNICEF stepping in to help compensate for a gap UNRWA says is unfillable.
“If you squeeze UNRWA out, what other agency can fill that void?” said Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations and communications, on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Saturday.
The agency has been excluded from U.S.-led talks on Phase 2 of the ceasefire, she added.
UNRWA shut down its Jerusalem compound in May after far-right protesters, including at least one member of Israeli Parliament, overran its gate in view of the police. Israel’s far-right has pushed to turn the compound into a settlement and the country's housing minister said last year he had instructed the ministry to “examine how to return the area to the state of Israel and utilize it for housing."
Josef Federman in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
FILE - Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand launched airstrikes along the disputed border with Cambodia on Monday as both sides accused the other of breaking a ceasefire that halted fighting earlier this year.
Longstanding border disputes erupted into five days of combat in July that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. U.S. President Donald Trump pushed the Southeast Asian neighbors to sign a truce agreement in October, but tensions have continued to simmer.
The Thai army said that more than 50,000 people have left areas near the border for shelters, while Cambodia's Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said that tens of thousands of residents had been displaced from several villages near the border.
The latest round of clashes has killed at least one Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians, officials said.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a televised speech that military operations would be carried out as necessary to defend the country and protect public safety.
“Thailand has never wished for violence. I'd like to reiterate that Thailand has never initiated a fight or an invasion, but will never tolerate a violation of its sovereignty,” he said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet wrote on Facebook that his government's immediate tasks were to protect the people and the country's sovereignty.
"I ask all ministries, institutions, authorities at all levels, all types of armed forces and all Cambodian citizens to unite for the cause of the nation and the homeland during this difficult period," he wrote.
The ceasefire was strained in early November after Thai troops were injured by land mines, leading Thailand to announce that it would indefinitely suspend implementation of the agreement. Both sides continue to trade accusations over responsibility, even as they are supposed to be cooperating in getting rid of the mines.
Trump said in mid-November that he’d intervened to preserve the ceasefire as tensions simmered between the two countries.
But another brief episode of fighting took place along the border Sunday, after which both sides said the other fired first. The Thai army said Cambodian fire injured two Thai soldiers and Thai troops retaliated, resulting in an exchange of fire that lasted around 20 minutes. Cambodia said that the Thai side fired first and that its own troops did not retaliate.
On Monday, Thai army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree said the Cambodian troops fired first into Thai territory in multiple areas. He said at least one Thai soldier was killed and about eight other soldiers were wounded. Thailand then used aircraft “to strike military targets in several areas to suppress Cambodian supporting fire attacks," he said.
The Thai army said artillery rounds landed near residential areas on the Thai side, but reported no civilian casualties so far.
Cambodian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata said the Thai military attacked the Cambodian troops first on Monday, and that Cambodia did not retaliate during the initial attacks.
“Cambodia urges that Thailand immediately stop all hostile activities that threaten peace and stability in the region,” she said.
Neth Pheaktra, the Cambodian Minister of Information, said fire from Thai forces killed four Cambodian civilians and injured about nine others.
The prime minister of regional neighbor Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, called for restraint in a statement posted to social media and said that his country is ready to support efforts to avert further fighting.
“Our region cannot afford to see long-standing disputes slip into cycles of confrontation,” he wrote.
Thailand and Cambodia have a history of enmity going back centuries, when they were warring empires.
Their modern territorial claims stem largely from a 1907 map drawn when Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand has argued is inaccurate.
The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded sovereignty to Cambodia over an area that included the 1,000-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which still rankles many Thais.
The ceasefire does not spell out a path to resolve the underlying basis of the dispute, the longstanding differences over where the border should run.
Sopheng Cheang reported from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contributed to this report.
Thai residents who fled homes following clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers rest at an evacuation center in Buriram province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Sopa Saelee)
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian villagers, transported by motor cart and tractor, flee from their home in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AKP via AP)
In this photo released by Royal Thai Army, a wounded Thai soldier is carried to be transferred to a hospital in Sisaket province, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, after, according to a Thai army spokesperson, Cambodian troops fired into Thai territory. (Royal Thai Army via AP)
FILE - The flags of Thailand, left, and Cambodia, right, are seen ahead of the ceremonial signing of a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia on the sidelines of the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Mohd Rasfan/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, right, and Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, left, react during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
