Israeli Forces Raid UN Vocational Center in East Jerusalem, Raise Israeli Flag as Ben-Gvir Celebrates

Video obtained by Al Jazeera shows Israeli forces entering the Qalandia Training Center, a UN-operated vocational facility in occupied East Jerusalem, and raising an Israeli flag in the courtyard after ordering UNRWA employees off the premises.

The footage shows the flag going up over the compound in the moments after the raid, a visual marker of control over a site the UN says is run under its own mandate to serve Palestinian communities.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrated the incursion publicly. His statement, as reported by Al Jazeera, read simply:

"UNRWA in our hands🇮🇱"

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the entry as unlawful, according to Al Jazeera's reporting. The UN has long maintained that its facilities, including UNRWA-run training and education centers, carry protections under international law regardless of the political status of the territory they sit in.

The raid comes amid a broader Israeli campaign against UNRWA's presence and legitimacy in the occupied territories. Israeli officials have pushed for months to restrict or dismantle the agency's operations, arguing it should not function inside Israeli-controlled areas. The seizure of a vocational training site, rather than a distribution center or school tied directly to aid delivery, signals the campaign's reach into the agency's broader institutional footprint in Jerusalem.

Al Jazeera reports that experts, alongside the UN, view the entry and flag-raising as a direct breach of international law governing the treatment of UN property and personnel in occupied territory. The characterization is disputed by no party on record; Israeli officials have not offered a legal justification for the raid in the material reviewed.

What is established: soldiers entered the facility, ordered UNRWA staff out, and raised an Israeli flag over the courtyard, captured on video. What is contested is the legal authority for doing so, an authority the UN says does not exist.

The incident adds to a documented pattern of confrontation between Israeli authorities and UNRWA, an agency whose mandate and continued operation in Jerusalem and the West Bank have become a recurring flashpoint as Israeli officials seek to curtail its role.