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Israeli security forces have raided and shuttered the Qalandia Training Centre, a vocational college run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), eliminating the organisation's final active presence in occupied East Jerusalem. The operation on Tuesday drew swift criticism from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, whose spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, stressed that all UN premises are inviolable under international law and shielded from any interference.
Unrwa issued its own statement denouncing what it called an unauthorised and deeply concerning incursion, arguing that armed personnel entering a UN installation without the organisation's consent is unacceptable. The agency said staff were expelled from the campus during the operation.
The raid was highly publicised by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who attended alongside a camera crew from the pro-government Channel 14 and posted footage of himself seated at the institute director's desk. "Thank God, on my shift there is no Unrwa, there is no management, they will not be here," he declared in the video. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirmed he had ordered the evacuation of the compound, accusing Unrwa of complicity in the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 — allegations the agency firmly rejects.
Established in 1952, the centre trained roughly 340 Palestinians annually in trades such as carpentry, car mechanics and plumbing. Although situated in East Jerusalem, the facility lies between Qalandia and Kfar Aqab behind Israel's separation barrier, making it reachable for young people from refugee camps throughout the West Bank. Israeli officials say equipment is now being cleared from the site and that part of it will be converted into a school.
Guterres's spokesman said the secretary general is gravely alarmed by the development because it strips young Palestinians of the vocational education they had been receiving. Closure orders had already been issued last year against six Unrwa schools in East Jerusalem, halting classroom instruction for about 800 children, after Israeli legislation banning the agency from operating within territory Israel considers its own took effect. That law also prohibits any state authority from contact with Unrwa. East Jerusalem was captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and subsequently annexed, a step most countries do not recognise.
Israel has alleged that at least 19 Unrwa staff members participated in the 7 October attack, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken into Gaza. A UN investigation concluded that evidence pointed to possible involvement by nine employees, whose contracts were terminated, while finding insufficient or no support for the remaining claims. Israel further contends that a tenth of Unrwa's Gaza workforce maintains ties to armed groups and that its facilities have served Hamas military purposes — assertions Unrwa disputes, saying Israel has never shared supporting information and that it consistently condemns violations of UN neutrality.
The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry urged the international community to act immediately to protect the college, secure the return of its personnel, and stop Israel from cementing what it described as a permanent fait accompli. Unrwa was created to assist Palestinians displaced during the fighting surrounding Israel's creation in 1948, and many Palestinians view the campaign against the agency as an effort to erase the refugee question and the associated "right of return" — one of the most contentious issues in the conflict.
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