Israeli Ministry of Education officials, accompanied by armed security forces, raided three Unrwa-run schools in East Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp in an attempt to enforce their closure on Thursday morning, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has reported.
The raids were conducted under new Israeli laws that effectively ban Unrwa’s activities in Israel, and occupied East Jerusalem, and follow Israeli Ministry of Education orders issued in April for the closure of six of the agency’s schools in the city.
The orders, set to take effect on 7 and 8 May, will deprive some 800 children of their education, just weeks before the end of the school year.
According to Unrwa, Israeli forces detained a staff member at one of the schools, gathered ID numbers of personnel and ordered them to dismiss the 550 students who were present in class.
Unrwa added that police are also being deployed at three other schools in occupied East Jerusalem. Staff said they had to release the 250 students who were in attendance at schools in Wadi Joz, Sur Baher and Silwan, to ensure their safety.
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“This is a grave violation of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” said Roland Friedrich, the director of Unrwa affairs in the occupied West Bank.
“This is a traumatising experience for young children who are at immediate risk of losing their access to education. The current school year runs until 20 June 2025.”
“Unrwa remains committed to delivering its services while ensuring the safety and security of its staff and beneficiaries,” he added.
The raids follow the Israeli Supreme Court’s rejection of an urgent injunction on 23 April by the legal advocacy group Adalah, demanding a halt to the enforcement of the closure orders.
How Unrwa school closures could damage the education of hundreds of Palestinian children
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On 7 May, Adalah wrote to the Israeli authorities renewing its demand to immediately halt the enforcement of the orders and warning that the closures are illegal under Israeli law.
Since the 1950s, Unrwa has run schools and medical clinics in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1980.
The agency is now the second biggest provider of education in the occupied Palestinian territories after the Palestinian Authority, operating 96 schools in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and serving almost 50,000 students from the first to the ninth grades.
On 2 May, the International Court of Justice concluded week-long hearings into what Israel’s humanitarian obligations are in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The majority of states argued that the country is in breach of its international legal obligations to facilitate the entry of aid to the population under its occupation.
