Israel seizes UNRWA center as Gaza attacks kill nine Palestinians
Shafaq News- Gaza/ West Bank
Israeli forces seized a UNRWA vocational training center north of occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, while Israeli attacks killed at least nine Palestinians in Gaza and violence wounded at least six across the occupied West Bank, Palestinian media reported.
West Bank
More than 50 Israeli security personnel, accompanied by at least four armored vehicles, “forcibly” entered UNRWA's Qalandia Training Centre in the morning, with approximately 20 employees on site, according to the agency. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accompanied the operation, during which forces evacuated the center, closed surrounding entrances and raised the Israeli flag inside the compound, Palestinian media documented.
UNRWA said Israeli officials subsequently announced that authorities had taken control of the premises, describing the operation as an “unauthorised and deeply concerning incursion” into a UN site protected by privileges and immunities under international law.
UN premises are inviolable.The forcible and unauthorised entry of Israeli forces into UNRWA’s Kalandia Training Centre is deeply alarming and threatens access to education and training for young #Palestine Refugees.Their opportunities and future must be protected.Full UNRWA… pic.twitter.com/l4Vbsnc0e0
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 25, 2026
The center, UNRWA's oldest vocational training facility, has served Palestinian refugees for more than seven decades and provides hundreds of students from camps across the occupied West Bank with free vocational education each year. It urged immediate international action to protect UN premises in occupied East Jerusalem, warning that such interference undermines its ability to carry out its mandate.
Around Qalandia, Israeli forces fired tear gas as clashes broke out near the refugee camp, where Israeli gunfire injured a teenager. The Jerusalem Governorate also documented demolition notices in the area and warned that the evacuation of the training center, removal of its staff and steps to take control of the compound were part of what it described as an Israeli plan targeting Palestinian and international institutions in Jerusalem.
Hamas denounced the action as a “blatant attack” on a UN institution and described the agency as “a UN witness to the Palestinian refugee issue and their inalienable right to return to their homes.”
Elsewhere across the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces detained six Palestinians during raids and demolished structures and livestock pens south of Nablus. The Palestinian Red Crescent recorded five injuries from beatings and tear gas during a settler attack near Bethlehem, while other incidents included damage to Palestinian vehicles and property, settlers preventing firefighters from reaching a blaze, and an armed settler detaining two Civil Defense volunteers near Ramallah.
The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission documented 1,819 violations in March, including 1,322 attributed to Israeli forces and 497 to settlers. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, at least 1,183 Palestinians, including 210 children, have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Society estimates that more than 21,000 Palestinians have been detained, many without formal charges, while the International Foundation for Solidarity with Prisoners registered 466 arrests and re-arrests in June 2026 alone, including 13 children, 10 women, 25 previously released prisoners, and members of various professional and social groups, in addition to recording 554 administrative detention orders and renewals during the month.
Gaza
In the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry recorded nine deaths and 36 injuries reaching hospitals over the past 24 hours.
Among the latest casualties, one Palestinian died from wounds sustained in an earlier Israeli strike on Deir al-Balah, while three others succumbed to injuries from attacks on Khan Younis, where Palestinians also held funerals for two people killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier. A separate Israeli strike on a gathering in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, killed one Palestinian and wounded four others, while Israeli fire critically injured a girl east of Deir al-Balah.
The Israeli military also carried out a series of large explosions east of Deir al-Balah.
Since the ceasefire took effect on October 11, 2025, the Gaza Health Ministry has recorded 1,296 deaths and 4,296 injuries, along with 814 bodies recovered, bringing the cumulative toll since October 7, 2023, to 73,431 killed and 174,437 injured.
