OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Hamas Movement has strongly denounced the Israeli seizure of a UNRWA facility north of Jerusalem on Tuesday, calling the move a direct attack on a UN agency and part of an ongoing campaign against Palestinians.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hamas warned that international inaction over Israel’s repeated targeting of UN facilities encourages it to persist in its aggression and impose new faits accomplis on the ground, with complete disregard for international law.
The Movement called on the international community and the UN to “act immediately to stop these violations, impose deterrent punitive measures against Israel, and assume their responsibilities to protect UNRWA and enable it to carry out its role as an international witness to the Palestinian refugee issue.”
In the morning, Israeli forces raided the Qalandia training center, a key facility operated by UNRWA in the town of Kafr Aqab in northern Jerusalem.
Before the raid on Tuesday, Israeli forces closed the nearby Qalandia checkpoint. Heavy military deployments spread throughout the surrounding neighborhoods and the adjacent Qalandia refugee camp. Troops forcibly expelled all UNRWA employees from the site, telling them not to return, and initiated operations to evacuate the complex.
Far-right Israeli security minister Itamar Ben Gvir participated in the raid. Speaking from the site, he praised the operation, saying that he launched an “operation to evacuate the building” and asserting that “there is no place for the agency in Jerusalem and Israel.”
UNRWA, however, has condemned the Israeli measure, maintaining that the Qalandia training center is a UN facility and is protected under international law.
