![Minister for Women and Equalities Anneliese Dodds leaves Downing Street after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting in London, United Kingdom on February 11, 2025. [Tomasz Andrzej Krych - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AA-20250211-37022034-37022031-CABINET_MEETING_IN_DOWNING_STREET-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
A UK minister voiced concern yesterday over the plight of Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem in the wake of Israeli attacks on and closure of UN-run schools. Anneliese Dodds, Minister for Development at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, highlighted the critical role of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in providing education for Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem.
“Essential education for Palestinian children in East Jerusalem is provided by UNRWA,” she wrote on social media. She described Israel’s order to shut down UNRWA schools and immediately evacuate the Qalandiya Training Centre as “deeply worrying” and stressed that “children’s access to education must continue uninterrupted.”
Essential education for Palestinian children in East Jerusalem is provided by @UNRWA.
The Israeli order to close its schools and the immediate evacuation of the Kalandia Training Centre is deeply worrying.
Children’s access to education must continue uninterrupted.
— Anneliese Dodds (@AnnelieseDodds) February 19, 2025
Her statement followed Israeli occupation forces’ forcible entry into multiple UNRWA facilities in occupied East Jerusalem, including schools and a training centre, disrupting the education of hundreds of students and trainees.
On Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces and municipal authorities raided a UNRWA training centre and three schools in East Jerusalem, using tear gas and sound bombs before ordering an immediate evacuation, according to UNRWA.
The Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said that at least 350 students and 30 staff members were inside the training centre when Israeli occupation forces stormed the facility. Tuesday’s incidents “have impacted 250 children in three UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem, +350 trainees in the Qalandiya Training Centre, a large United Nations compound,” he pointed out.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday also condemned Israel’s attacks, calling them a “breach of UN premises” and denouncing the attempt to shut down UNRWA schools. He criticised the use of tear gas and sound bombs in educational settings, stating that such measures were “both unnecessary and unacceptable.”
READ: UNRWA chief warns of operational ‘collapse’ due to Israeli laws