Responding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini described it as an “unprecedented attack” against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law.

The move represents “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, by the State of Israel”, the UNRWA Commissioner-General said on X.

Condemnation from Guterres

Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the demolition “in the strongest terms”.

The UN chief has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that the compound remains UN premises and is “inviolable and immune from any form of interference.”

“The Secretary-General views as wholly unacceptable the continued escalatory actions against UNRWA,” the statement from his office continued.

Mr. Guterres called on Israel to halt the demolition and restore the compound to the UN “without delay”.

Human rights chief’s ‘outrage’

Echoing those concerns, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed his “outrage” at the incident, which marks a sharp escalation of tensions between the Israeli authorities and UNRWA.

“It compounds what we’ve been seeing for a while; attacking aid groups and UN actors who are trying to help,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the High Commissioner.

On 14 January, Israeli forces entered an UNRWA health centre in East Jerusalem and ordered it to close. At the time of the incident, the agency said its workers were “terrified”. In the coming weeks, water and power supplies to UNRWA facilities are scheduled to be cut, including to buildings used for health care and education.

“This is a direct result of legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in December, which stepped up existing anti-UNRWA laws adopted in 2024,” Mr. Lazzarini said.

Previously, UNRWA premises have been targeted by arsonists amid a “large-scale disinformation campaign” against it by Israel, the agency’s Commissioner-General maintained.

This was despite a ruling last October by the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice, which restated that Israel was obliged “to facilitate UNRWA’s operations, not hinder or prevent them. The court also stressed that Israel has no jurisdiction over East Jerusalem,” Mr. Lazzarini noted.

“What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world,” he continued. “International law has come under increasing attack for too long and is risking irrelevancy in the absence of response by Member States.”

The head of aid coordination office, OCHA, in the country, Paola Emerson, told reporters in Geneva that more than half a million people have been impacted by the floods, triggered by heavy rains in the first weeks of the new year.

“The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams keep releasing water to avoid bursting,” she said.

Mozambique’s Gaza province is most affected along with Maputo and Sofala provinces.

‘Melting’ houses

Speaking from Xai-Xai, Gaza’s capital city, Ms. Emerson stressed that 90 per cent of the country’s people live in adobe houses, which are earth-based structures “that basically melt after a few days’ rains”.

Health facilities, roads and critical infrastructure are also heavily impacted. Ms. Emerson said that some 5,000 kilometres of roads have been damaged across nine provinces, including the main road linking the capital Maputo to the rest of the country, which is currently inaccessible, resulting in major supply chain disruptions.

Meanwhile, dams continue to release water even as heavy rains subside.

“From just one dam, up to 10,000 cubic metres-worth of water were being discharged. That is approximately 25 times the amount of water that could be held in the press briefing room you are in today, every second,” Ms. Emerson told journalists, seated in a room with capacity for more than 100 people.

“You cannot imagine the strength of this water and the impact it has on people and the infrastructure.”

National emergency

The Government of Mozambique has declared a national emergency and has established an emergency operations centre in Gaza province. Xai-Xai, which is near the Limpopo River, has been inundated, prompting evacuations. Ms. Emerson said that authorities have issued alerts for downtown Xai-Xai, “including warnings of crocodile risks in flooded areas”.

“River levels are rising and are reaching urban areas or heavily populated areas,” she said. “The crocodiles that are in the Limpopo River…are able to get into urban or populated areas that are now submerged underwater.”

Also speaking from Xai-Xai, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s Chief of Communication in Mozambique, Guy Taylor, warned that flooding is “turning unsafe water, disease outbreaks and malnutrition into a deadly threat for children”.

Lethal combination

The combination of waterborne diseases and malnutrition “can often prove lethal,” he said, stressing that even before the floods, four out of every 10 children in Mozambique experienced chronic malnutrition.

“This renewed disruption to food supplies, to health services and to care practices threatens to push the most vulnerable children into a dangerous spiral,” he insisted.

Mr. Taylor added that Mozambique is now entering into its annual cyclone season, creating the risk of a double crisis. “We can prevent disease, deaths and irreversible losses to children, but we need to act fast,” he said.

The UNICEF spokesperson described Mozambique as “a country of children and young people”, with an average age of 17.

“When floods and cyclones strike, as they have repeatedly and with increasing frequency over recent years, it’s the youngest and children who are hit hardest,” he concluded.