Israel seizes control of UNRWA compound in Jerusalem

Israel boots UNRWA from compound in northern Jerusalem, begins work repurposing the site.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli security forces moved Tuesday to take control of an UNRWA compound in Kafr Aqab in northern Jerusalem, beginning work to remove the United Nations agency from the site and replace it with a municipal education and community complex serving local Arab residents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was being carried out at his direction and in accordance with legislation passed by the Knesset banning UNRWA activity on Israeli territory.

“In accordance with my directive and pursuant to the law we passed, the evacuation of the UNRWA compound in Kafr Aqab, Jerusalem, began today,” Netanyahu said.

“The State of Israel will not allow an organization whose employees were involved in terrorism and in the October 7 massacre to operate in its territory, and will act against it with every tool at its disposal,” he added.

Large numbers of Israel Police officers, IDF troops and Jerusalem Municipality personnel entered the compound Tuesday morning to secure the start of the evacuation and redevelopment work.

The facility, known as the Qalandia Training Centre, has operated for decades as a vocational education center run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also hailed the operation as the implementation of legislation barring UNRWA activity in Israeli territory.

“Making history! This morning we are beginning the work to evacuate UNRWA from Kafr Aqab!” Ben Gvir said.

“This morning, large Israel Police forces are operating together with the relevant authorities to implement the law and remove UNRWA from the site.”

“An organization whose employees were involved in terrorism and which repeatedly served as an umbrella for Hamas has no right to exist for another second and has no place in Jerusalem or in the State of Israel.”

“My policy is clear: Sovereignty is not something you talk about — sovereignty is something you exercise.”

“The Israel Police will continue to act determinedly to enforce the law, strengthen governance and make clear: Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel, and that is how it will remain. And anyone who establishes terrorist nests there will be removed.”

In a separate comment, Ben-Gvir said, “Those who took part in October 7 will no longer enjoy immunity.”

Israel has long accused UNRWA of extensive infiltration by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, allegations that intensified after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.

A UN investigation subsequently concluded that nine of 19 UNRWA employees it examined may have been involved in the attack and said their employment would be terminated.

The Knesset voted 92-10 in October 2024 to prohibit UNRWA from operating within territory under Israeli sovereignty.

The legislation took effect on Jan. 30, 2025 and barred the agency from operating offices, providing services or conducting activities inside Israel.

A separate law restricted official contact between Israeli state authorities and UNRWA.

Israel informed the United Nations before the law took effect that UNRWA would be required to leave its facilities in Jerusalem, specifically identifying compounds in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab.

Israeli authorities later took control of the Ma’alot Dafna compound, leaving the Kafr Aqab site as the agency’s principal remaining active facility within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries.

Previous efforts to prepare the Kafr Aqab compound for evacuation were delayed after Israeli forces came under live fire during an operation in the area earlier this year.

Tuesday’s operation is also intended to pave the way for a major municipal redevelopment project.

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the compound will be transformed into a new educational and community center for residents of Kafr Aqab.

More than NIS 40 million is being invested in the initial stage, with plans for schools, sports facilities, healthcare services and a mosque.

A municipal boys’ high school is expected to be among the first facilities opened at the site, with authorities aiming to have it operating around the beginning of the new school year.

The Foreign Ministry said the land on which the UNRWA facility stands has belonged to the Jewish National Fund since 1937 and has now been allocated for municipal use.

“A community and educational center will be established for the residents of the Kafr Aqab neighborhood in northern Jerusalem in place of the UNRWA compound, which sat on land that has been owned by the JNF since 1937,” the ministry said.

“Schools, sports facilities and a mosque will be built there, at an investment of 40 million shekels.”

The ministry said UNRWA had no ownership rights over the land despite having operated the facility there for decades, and accused the organization of preventing the property from being used to alleviate shortages in schools and other public services in the neighborhood.

UNRWA disputes Israel’s account of the site’s legal status.

The agency says the occupying Jordanian administration made the property available for UNRWA’s use before Israel liberated eastern Jerusalem in 1967 and maintains that the compound is a protected UN facility.

Palestinian media reported that Israeli forces also deployed throughout Kafr Aqab and the nearby Qalandiya refugee camp during Tuesday’s operation.

The Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency said dozens of employees and others at the training center were detained for questioning.

The move follows months of political and legal pressure inside Israel to fully implement the laws targeting UNRWA.

Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, one of the lawmakers behind the legislation, recently joined a High Court petition demanding that authorities complete the takeover of the Kafr Aqab property.

The petition argued that the government had failed to meet deadlines established under later amendments to the legislation.

The Foreign Ministry contrasted the redevelopment plans with the agency’s activities, saying: “The bottom line is simple: While UNRWA engages in politics, the Jerusalem Municipality is improving the daily lives of all of its residents, Jews and Arabs alike.”