Overview
- Israeli forces entered the Qalandia (Kafr Aqab) campus and expelled UNRWA staff using armoured vehicles and dozens of security personnel, detaining or questioning roughly 40 people in an operation on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 that also began partial demolition and saw an Israeli flag raised on the site.
- The government framed the action as enforcement of an October 2024 Knesset law banning UNRWA in Israel and cited new USAID Inspector General referrals of more than 100 current or former UNRWA employees to the U.S. State Department over alleged roles in the October 7, 2023 attacks.
- The United Nations and UNRWA condemned the seizure as a breach of UN immunity and international law, with Secretary‑General António Guterres warning the move will disrupt UNRWA’s protected premises and services.
- UNRWA says the Qalandia centre, founded in 1952, provided vocational training to about 340 students each year and served thousands in the area, raising immediate concerns that education, health and social programs will be halted for vulnerable refugees.
- Israeli officials say the Jewish National Fund owned the land and the Jerusalem Municipality has already started converting the plot into an education and community complex, a step critics say is part of a broader push to consolidate municipal control in East Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank.