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Israeli Forces Seize Last Major UNRWA Site in East Jerusalem
(MENAFN) More than $5 million in United Nations assets were housed at an UNRWA vocational training center in occupied East Jerusalem that Israeli forces stormed earlier this week, with agency officials reporting damage and apparent looting after troops withdrew.
Roland Friedrich, UNRWA's director of affairs in the West Bank, said Israeli security forces, municipal employees and an elected official entered the Qalandiya Training Center on Aug. 25, describing the incursion as "forcibly and unlawfully" carried out, and said UN staff were expelled from the site.
Writing in a statement posted to X, Friedrich said Israeli authorities did not leave after the initial raid but instead stayed on-site to carry out renovation and clearance work. He said Israeli forces appeared to have withdrawn from the compound on Aug. 28, but left behind damaged UN property and evidence that items had been taken.
The timing was particularly disruptive, according to Friedrich: the center had been in the final stages of preparing to welcome 340 students from across the West Bank for the start of the new academic year the following week.
The sprawling complex houses dozens of vocational workshops, classrooms, dormitories and administrative offices, along with specialized tools and equipment used for hands-on trade instruction. Friedrich put the total value of UNRWA assets at the site above $5 million, noting that the agency and its international partners have poured significant funding into equipment, infrastructure upgrades and repairs there in recent years — some of it in projects still active when Israeli personnel entered the facility.
UNRWA underscored the urgency of safeguarding the center, citing its function as a hub for educating and training Palestinian refugee youth. Friedrich said Israel is legally obligated to undo its actions immediately and to ensure no similar breach happens again.
Speaking to media on Aug. 27, Friedrich noted that Qalandiya had stood as UNRWA's last significant foothold in occupied East Jerusalem, after Israeli authorities shuttered six agency-run schools and two health clinics and seized — largely demolishing — the organization's main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Founded in 1952, the Qalandiya center is described as UNRWA's oldest technical and vocational training institution in the West Bank, serving 340 Palestinian refugee youth annually with free instruction.
The raid unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying Israeli measures targeting UNRWA. The Knesset passed two laws in October 2024 curbing the agency's operations, including a prohibition on its activity within Israel that took effect in early 2025. For its part, the International Court of Justice reaffirmed in October 2025 that Israel is bound to respect the inviolability of UN facilities, including those run by UNRWA, and to refrain from interfering with the agency's property and assets.
Roland Friedrich, UNRWA's director of affairs in the West Bank, said Israeli security forces, municipal employees and an elected official entered the Qalandiya Training Center on Aug. 25, describing the incursion as "forcibly and unlawfully" carried out, and said UN staff were expelled from the site.
Writing in a statement posted to X, Friedrich said Israeli authorities did not leave after the initial raid but instead stayed on-site to carry out renovation and clearance work. He said Israeli forces appeared to have withdrawn from the compound on Aug. 28, but left behind damaged UN property and evidence that items had been taken.
The timing was particularly disruptive, according to Friedrich: the center had been in the final stages of preparing to welcome 340 students from across the West Bank for the start of the new academic year the following week.
The sprawling complex houses dozens of vocational workshops, classrooms, dormitories and administrative offices, along with specialized tools and equipment used for hands-on trade instruction. Friedrich put the total value of UNRWA assets at the site above $5 million, noting that the agency and its international partners have poured significant funding into equipment, infrastructure upgrades and repairs there in recent years — some of it in projects still active when Israeli personnel entered the facility.
UNRWA underscored the urgency of safeguarding the center, citing its function as a hub for educating and training Palestinian refugee youth. Friedrich said Israel is legally obligated to undo its actions immediately and to ensure no similar breach happens again.
Speaking to media on Aug. 27, Friedrich noted that Qalandiya had stood as UNRWA's last significant foothold in occupied East Jerusalem, after Israeli authorities shuttered six agency-run schools and two health clinics and seized — largely demolishing — the organization's main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Founded in 1952, the Qalandiya center is described as UNRWA's oldest technical and vocational training institution in the West Bank, serving 340 Palestinian refugee youth annually with free instruction.
The raid unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying Israeli measures targeting UNRWA. The Knesset passed two laws in October 2024 curbing the agency's operations, including a prohibition on its activity within Israel that took effect in early 2025. For its part, the International Court of Justice reaffirmed in October 2025 that Israel is bound to respect the inviolability of UN facilities, including those run by UNRWA, and to refrain from interfering with the agency's property and assets.
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