Israel seized refugee agency’s last major facility in Jerusalem, top UNRWA official says

Israel has seized the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)’s last major facility in occupied East Jerusalem, while the agency continues providing services across the West Bank despite intense Israeli pressure, UNRWA’s West Bank director Roland Friedrich told , Anadolu Agency Thursday.

Friedrich said Israel had “closed six UNRWA schools and two health centers and destroyed the agency’s main headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.”

“Israel seized the last major facility remaining for UNRWA in East Jerusalem in a blatant violation of international law,” he said, referring to the Qalandia Vocational Training Center, which was seized on Tuesday.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967 in violation of UN resolutions.

UNRWA operates three other vocational training centers elsewhere in the West Bank, while Qalandia is the agency’s oldest technical and vocational training center in the territory, Friedrich said.

“The center has operated since 1952 and specializes in vocational training for young Palestinian refugees from camps across the West Bank,” he added.

“We receive 340 young people each year, ages 15 to 19, and train them as carpenters, auto mechanics and graphic designers, giving them the skills they need to succeed in the labor market,” Friedrich said.

More than 90 percent of the center’s graduates find jobs each year, he explained, adding that the facility provides free education to young people from difficult socioeconomic backgrounds.

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Humanitarian situation deteriorating

Friedrich said the humanitarian situation in the West Bank has “sharply deteriorated since Oct. 7, 2023.”

“We have seen unemployment rise above 30 percent across the West Bank, and in some refugee camps it has exceeded 50 percent, because of Israeli movement restrictions and limited access to the labor market,” he said.

He added: “We have also witnessed an increase in forced displacement, which is extremely dangerous.”

In the northern West Bank, about 34,000 Palestinian refugees from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps have been forcibly displaced by the Israeli army for more than one and a half years, and remain barred from returning to their homes, Friedrich said.

More than 50 percent of homes in those camps have also been destroyed, he added.

UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian agency operating in the West Bank, providing education to more than 4,500 displaced children and health services to displaced people, Friedrich said.

He added: “We are seeing in the West Bank a pattern similar to what we witnessed in Gaza — of forced displacement, destruction of homes and preventing people from returning — and this is a serious deterioration.”

“UNRWA services continue across the West Bank. We face severe pressure in East Jerusalem, but elsewhere in the West Bank we have 90 schools and 50 health centers serving 1.1 million people,” he said.

Violation of international law

Friedrich decried Israeli measures against the agency, saying, “Israel, as a UN member state, is obliged to support the work of the UN and UNRWA.”

He noted that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had issued a ruling last October affirming Israel’s obligation to protect UNRWA staff, facilitate the agency’s work, and respect its privileges and immunities.

“Violating UN facilities sends a dangerous message around the world and establishes a precedent that undermines respect for the organization’s work and the protection of its staff and facilities,” he said.

More than half of UNRWA schools in Gaza have been destroyed by the Israeli army, while the agency’s main headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem has been seized and almost completely destroyed, Friedrich said.

“This is an outright violation of international law, and we continue to carry out the mandate entrusted to us by the [UN] General Assembly and the international community,” he said.

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Funding crisis

Friedrich said UNRWA faces a funding shortfall of “about $100 million this year” because contributions from some donors have dried up.

“The US — our largest donor — has stopped funding us for more than two years, while funding from Arab countries has also declined,” he said, adding that the agency has been forced to scale back some of its services.

At the same time, private donations have increased — especially from Muslim communities in Islamic countries, Europe and the US, he said.

Refugee rights

Friedrich stressed that “the right of Palestinian refugees to return is guaranteed under UN General Assembly Resolution 194.”

“UNRWA was established later under Resolution 302, so the rights of Palestinian refugees remain guaranteed under international law, whether UNRWA exists or not,” he said.

The developments come amid continued Israeli pressure on UNRWA after the Knesset approved two laws in October 2024 restricting the agency’s operations, including a ban on its activities inside Israel.

The laws took effect in early 2025.

The ICJ reaffirmed last October Israel’s obligation to respect the inviolability of UN facilities, including UNRWA premises, and refrain from interfering with its property and assets.

Last December, despite pressure, the UN General Assembly renewed UNRWA’s mandate for three years, allowing the agency to continue its work until June 2029.

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