Israeli occupation forces raid UNRWA training center near East al-Quds, detain staff

Israeli occupation forces have raided the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) training center in the Qalandia refugee camp, north of occupied East al-Quds, and detained teaching and administrative staff inside the facility.

In a statement released on Monday, the al-Quds Governorate reported that Israeli troops stormed the center, fired tear gas canisters into the compound, and confined the teaching and administrative staff in one of the building’s halls. Israeli soldiers also climbed onto the roof of the camp’s local committee building during the operation.

The raid followed an overnight military offensive in the Qalandia refugee camp from Sunday into Monday, in which Israeli occupation forces raided several neighborhoods and fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters, sparking fires. 

This latest assault comes roughly six weeks after the governorate warned of an Israeli plan to demolish the UNRWA training center. On June 11, it stated that Israeli authorities were advancing plans to construct a new complex on land belonging to the center.

According to UNRWA, the training center serves around 350 students aged 15 to 19 and stands on land made available to the agency by the Jordanian government before Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

Palestinian officials accuse Israel of seizing land and systematically undermining Palestinian and international institutions operating in East al-Quds as part of broader efforts to consolidate its occupation of the city and alter its demographic and cultural character.

According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli authorities carried out 341 demolitions in the first half of this year, destroying 740 Palestinian structures and affecting 923 Palestinians.

West Bank faces worst humanitarian crisis since 1967 amid Israeli raids: UNRWA

UNRWA has warned that the occupied West Bank is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since 1967, citing extensive displacement and destruction in refugee camps amid ongoing Israeli military operations.

Hamas warns against efforts to dismantle UN agency

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has warned of renewed US-Israeli efforts to dismantle UNRWA following the submission of a draft bill to the US Congress targeting the agency.

In a recent statement released, the movement described the proposed legislation as “a new step” toward ending UNRWA’s role and eliminating its historic responsibility toward Palestinian refugees.

Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka strongly condemned the US and Israeli moves, calling them “a flagrant violation of international law and UN resolutions” and “a direct attack on the right of return for Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948.”

Baraka emphasized that UNRWA, established under UN General Assembly Resolution 302 in 1949, is not merely a humanitarian agency but “an international witness to the Palestinian Nakba.” It embodies the international community’s legal, political, and moral responsibility toward Palestinian refugees until UN Resolution 194—which guarantees their right to return and compensation—is fully implemented.

He stressed that any attempt to abolish UNRWA, reduce its mandate, or transfer its responsibilities to other bodies would not change the legal status of the Palestinian refugee issue or undermine the inalienable right of return.

Baraka called on the United Nations, donor countries, and the international community to reject US and Israeli pressure, secure sustainable funding for UNRWA, and strengthen the agency’s education, health, relief, and social services across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

He also urged Arab and Islamic countries, as well as humanitarian and human rights organizations, to launch a broad political, legal, and public campaign in support of the agency.

Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in the occupied territories after accusing some of its staff of involvement in the al-Aqsa Flood operation of October 2023. Despite repeated requests from UNRWA for evidence supporting these allegations, the Israeli regime has provided no response.

The UN agency has faced deepening financial turmoil since Israel launched a sustained defamation campaign against it. Israel has already barred dozens of international humanitarian organizations from operating in the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied territories.

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