The surface active Fe-sites in HZSM-5 with low content of iron (<1000 ppm) activated by steaming and high temperature (up to 1323 K) calcination in inert lead to the formation of surface oxygen (O) ad species from N 2 O and were characterized quantitatively by transient response method. Only a part of (O) ad deposited on zeolite by decomposing N 2 O was active in CO oxidation at 523 K. A binuclear Fe-center is suggested as an active center, featuring a "diamond core" structure, similar to that of the monooxygenase enzyme. The active O-atoms were assigned to the paired terminal oxygen atoms each bound to one Fe-site in the binuclear [Fe 2 O 2 H] + -cluster.Zeolite pre-saturated by water vapor at 473-523 K generates (O) ad species from N 2 O completely inactive in the CO oxidation. The total amount of the oxygen, (O) ad , deposited on the pre-saturated by water zeolite corresponds to a half of stoichiometric amount of the surface Fe-atoms and suggests that water blocks a half of the binuclear [Fe 2 O 2 H] + -center, the remaining acting as a single Fe-site.