The father of Yonatan Samerano, who was murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, and whose body was taken to Gaza by a Palestinian United Nations employee, affixed a mezuzah on Wednesday to the gate of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) compound demolished by Israeli authorities the previous day.
Kobi Samerano led the symbolic ceremony in Jerusalem, representing personal closure for the bereaved father, U.S.-based nonprofit American Friends of Judea and Samaria said on its Instagram account.
In a video posted on X, apparently by Kobi Samerano’s personal account, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King and Likud Party lawmaker Dan Illouz could be seen accompanying the father.
היום זכינו לקבוע מזוזה במתחם אונר״א לשעבר בגבעת התחמושת
— קובי סמרנו (@kobisamerano) January 21, 2026
לזכות הבן שלנו
יונתן מרדכי בן אילת ויעקב
שתהא זו עת רצון לשמירה, ברכה וישועה 🙏 pic.twitter.com/or4RaRvrn0
“This is closure for my family and me. A despicable UNRWA employee viciously abducted our Yonati, and for a long time we could not live in peace until we brought him for Jewish burial,” the father was quoted as saying by Israel National News, referring to the retrieval of Samerano’s body on June 22.
“Finally justice is done: the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem were completely destroyed. UNRWA is outlawed, and it is out of Israel. Thank you to all those who helped and pushed for the law that enabled this demolition. I hope that we will not see any more of UNRWA in Israel,” Samerano continued.
In October 2024, the Knesset passed legislation that bars UNRWA from operating offices or providing services within Israel’s sovereign territory. The move came after the exposure of UNRWA employees’ complicity in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said Israel owns the former UNRWA compound in Jerusalem where the Israel Land Authority is now operating, adding that UNRWA had already halted its activities there and withdrawn all personnel before legislation affecting the agency was passed in January 2025.
Yonatan Samerano, 21, from Tel Aviv, attended the Supernova music festival near the Gaza border with two other friends. The three managed to escape toward Kibbutz Be’eri but were gunned down by terrorists at the entrance of the community.
Samerano’s family filed a landmark lawsuit against UNRWA in December 2024.
Intelligence gathered by Israeli forces during the war indicates that Samerano’s body was taken by Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami, a Hamas terrorist who was employed by UNRWA in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp.
The lawsuit also names Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, and other agency officials.
