Israel’s seizure of Unrwa training college in East Jerusalem condemned

Israeli security forces have seized and closed a training college run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), the last of its facilities that was still operating in occupied East Jerusalem.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned the incursion of the Qalandia Training Centre, the latest move to threaten Unrwa after Israel passed laws against it.

His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said that under international law, all UN premises “are inviolable and immune from any form of interference.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined the large raid on Tuesday and released a video of himself in the chair of the director of the Unrwa institute.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given the directive for the evacuation of the Unrwa compound, accusing the agency of involvement in the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which it strongly denies.

The Qalandia Training Centre, which was set up in 1952, trained some 340 Palestinians a year in valuable vocational skills including carpentry, car mechanics and plumbing.

Although the site is in East Jerusalem, its location between Qalandia and Kfar Aqab is behind Israel’s separation barrier, which made it accessible to young people from refugee camps across the West Bank.

Staff have been expelled from the college. The Israeli authorities say equipment is being removed from the site, and they intend to turn part of it into a school.