On Wednesday, the Israeli occupation municipality began converting the seized UNRWA-run Qalandia Vocational Training Center in Kafr Aqab, north of occupied Jerusalem, into what it called “a municipal educational complex,” while Israeli forces maintained control of the compound for a second consecutive day.
The Jerusalem Governorate said municipal crews entered the center and began what occupation authorities described as “maintenance and renovation” work.
According to the governorate, the move is part of a broader effort to consolidate Israeli control over the UNRWA property and repurpose it for colonial use.
Israeli soldiers remained deployed throughout the center on Wednesday, with troops rotating shifts and additional military reinforcements arriving around midnight and again at dawn.
The takeover began with Tuesday’s invasion of the facility, when Israeli forces forcibly evacuated the institute, seized the compound, and raised an Israeli flag in its courtyard.
Soldiers also invaded streets and alleys in the Qalandia refugee camp and Kafr Aqab, where they broke into and searched properties and conducted field interrogations of residents.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participated in the invasion and said occupation authorities had begun an “operation to evacuate the building,” claiming there was “no place for the agency in Jerusalem and Israel.”
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
The compound contains educational, vocational, and health facilities. The Jerusalem Governorate warned that an Israeli municipal plan for the site would require the demolition of most of the vocational training center.
The takeover is part of an escalating Israeli campaign against UNRWA and its institutions in occupied Jerusalem, including efforts to halt the agency’s operations and restrict its activities despite its United Nations mandate to serve Palestinian refugees.
Israeli occupation authorities have also approved measures barring UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories and revoking arrangements and privileges previously granted to the agency, drawing widespread Palestinian and international condemnation.
Established in 1952 as UNRWA’s first training center in Palestine, the 80-dunam facility includes workshops, classrooms, dormitories, and administrative buildings.
The institute provides free vocational education to about 340 Palestinian students from refugee camps across the occupied West Bank each year.
UNRWA unequivocally condemned the incursion as “unauthorized and deeply concerning,” saying the center is a United Nations facility protected by privileges and immunities under international law.
UNRWA said any attempt to seize or interfere with the facility undermines the United Nations’ ability to carry out its mandate and called for immediate international action to protect UN premises and operations.
