On 25 August, Israeli security forces raided and seized the Qalandia Training Centre in occupied East Jerusalem, belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). They forced out the site staff, shut down operations, raised the Israeli flag, and are now refusing to leave.
Israeli forces have taken control of the UNRWA Qalandia Training Centre, removing the UN flag and replacing it with an Israeli flag to establish a new school complex in its place.
The complex has graduated more than 20,000 students across various professional specializations,… pic.twitter.com/72RVwujlft
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) August 27, 2026
Ben-Gvir: Seizure of Qalandia Training Centre a “major operation to remove UNRWA”
UNRWA said the incident, which happened in the Kafr Aqab neighbourhood, occurred around 10am local time. At least four armoured vehicles, accompanied by more than 50 Israeli occupation security personnel, entered the UNRWA premises. ‘National security minister,’ Itamar Ben-Gvir, posted a video on X, in which he celebrated the seizure of the facility. He said the various occupation authorities “all joined together in a major operation to remove UNRWA.”
Under international law, UN property and assets are immune from every form of interference. But ‘Israel’ has no respect for the international legal system or humanity. It has repeatedly breached, damaged, or demolished UN facilities during conflicts and operations. And it has also killed more than 390 UNRWA staff in Gaza since the start of the genocide.
UNRWA says the Jerusalem Municipality drew up a plan in April 2026 to build educational, community, welfare and medical facilities — plus a transport route — on the centre’s land, a scheme that would mean demolishing most of the existing buildings. But ‘Israel’ is stealing this land. It was provided to UNRWA by the Government of Jordan through an agreement, still in force today.
Far-right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a raid on UNRWA’s Qalandia Training Centre in Kafr 'Aqab, later posting a video from inside the manager’s office to celebrate the takeover and vow to turn the site into an Israeli school.
The move comes amid escalating government… pic.twitter.com/i7A5onARSD
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 25, 2026
Centre provides a vital lifeline to Palestinian refugees
Mohammad Astan, from the Qalandia Camp Popular Committee, told Al Jazeera:
The closure of the institute means pushing thousands of Palestinian refugees towards despair. This institute served refugees from 24 camps in the West Bank. We are currently preparing a comprehensive legal fight. We want to take this file to international courts, including the International Court of Justice.
In its statement, UNRWA said the entry of armed security forces into a United Nations facility, without the authorisation or consent of the UN, was “unacceptable”.
Established almost 75 years ago, the facility was UNRWA’s first centre providing essential technical and vocational training for Palestinian refugees. The occupation ensures Palestinians continually suffer from an acute lack of social and economic resources. Every year the centre trains around 340 young Palestinian refugees in trades from electromechanics to construction — and 90% of its graduates go on to find work.
Across the occupied West Bank, UNRWA provides basic education to around 48,000 Palestinian refugee children. It says closure or expropriation of the Centre would have a hugely detrimental impact on this population, and would not serve their best interests. Many of the young people who used the Centre are poor and vulnerable, according to the agency.
UNRWA — Six unauthorised entries already this year by Israeli occupation
But this attack is not an isolated incident. Since the beginning of 2026, according to UNRWA’s statement:
there have been six unauthorised entries by Israeli authorities to the Qalandia Training Centre. Furthermore, over the past four weeks at least ten fires have broken out on the premises resulting from tear gas grenades fired by Israeli forces.
These illegal attacks on Qalandia Training Centre follow the Israeli occupation’s January demolition of UNRWA’s headquarters, also in East Jerusalem. This crime, so far, has also gone unpunished.
UNRWA wasestablished in 1949by the UN General Assembly. Its mandate is to provide relief to the more than 750,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced from their homes in the 1948 Nakba, during the violent formation of ‘Israel’.
The organisation allows children and grandchildren of these Palestinians to keep their refugee status. And it has preserved the demand for a Palestinian right to return. There are now almost six million Palestinian refugees, both in the occupied territory and the global diaspora.
‘Israel’ knows that if millions of refugees returned to their stolen lands inside its borders, it would end ‘Israel’s’ Jewish majority. So it is doing all it can to shut UNRWA down across Palestine. It has long led a targeted campaign of disinformation and intimidation against UNRWA, which has escalated since October 2023.
‘Israel’ falsely claimed a large proportion of UNRWA employees were affiliated with Hamas, leading the US to cut off all financial contributions to the organisation. Now, with the need for UNRWA’s services greater than ever, it is facing a record funding shortfall of $100 million.
Disinformation and violations of international law further advance Israel’s criminal goals
In May 2025, Israeli occupation authorities also forcibly closed six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem, including the schools in Shuafat Refugee Camp, and the neighbourhood of Silwan.
Despite the many hardships caused by the occupation, Palestinians have one of the best literacy rates globally, and the highest in the regional Arab world. They see education as an investment towards a better future. This is why the occupation has systematically targeted educational infrastructure, throughout both the West Bank andGaza. It knows that by doing this, Palestinian history and culture will be wiped out, and the future of Palestinians will also be directly affected.
Not only is ‘Israel’ shutting down Palestinian educational facilities, it is also demolishing them. 84 schools in Area C and East Jerusalem serving nearly 13,000 students are subject to demolition orders. As these disappear, parents are left having to choose between their child’s studies and their land. This is all part of the Israeli occupation’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians. Whether in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, or Gaza, the aim is the same — to forcibly displace Palestinians and steal their land, as part of the “Greater Israel” plan.
Featured image via the Canary
By Charlie Jaay
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