NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday condemned the “unlawful entry” by Israeli forces into Kalandia Training Centre, a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees facility in occupied East Jerusalem.

It came after Israel moved to seize and begin dismantling the premises, one of the oldest UN vocational training centers for Palestinian refugees.

Guterres’ spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said Israeli security forces unlawfully entered the facility, remained there and carried out unauthorized works, while UNRWA staff were present. He said the secretary-general was “greatly alarmed” that Israel’s actions would deprive young people of the vocational education the center has provided for more than 70 years.

Tuesday’s incident was the fifth unauthorized entry by Israeli authorities at the center since May, Duajrric said, and followed earlier breaches at other UNRWA sites including the seizure and demolition of the agency’s Sheikh Jarrah compound, and the cutting of water and electricity supplies to several other facilities.

Israeli forces closed the nearby Qalandiya checkpoint ahead of Tuesday’s operation, and carried out a heavy deployment of troops at the training center and an adjacent refugee camp before entering the compound at about 10 a.m., accompanied by at least four armored vehicles and more than 50 security personnel.

Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, took part in the raid, and an Israeli flag was raised in the compound’s courtyard. UNRWA said about 20 members of its staff were on site at the time and Israeli officials later stated the premises had been seized.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not allow an organization whose employees were involved in “terrorism and in the Oct. 7 massacre” to operate on its territory, and he had ordered the removal of UNRWA from the site under a 2024 law banning the agency from operating in the country.

Israeli officials have said the land on which the center is built has been owned by the Jewish National Fund since 1937 and is allocated to Jerusalem Municipality. They accuse UNRWA of fencing off the land for decades without ownership rights.

The agency rejected this characterization and said the land was provided by the Jordanian government in 1952 under an agreement that remains in force. It added that the center is a UN facility and as such it is protected under international law regardless of any underlying land dispute.

The facility trains hundreds of Palestinian students each year from refugee camps across the occupied West Bank. When the Israeli forces entered it was open for the registration of students for the coming school year, which is due to begin on Sept. 1, UNRWA said.

Dujarric said Kalandia and other agency facilities are UN premises, which are considered inviolable and immune from any form of interference, and that Israel’s actions on Tuesday were inconsistent with the country’s obligations under the UN Charter and the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

He said the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of Oct. 22, 2025, confirmed the obligation on Israel to respect the inviolability of UN premises in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to interfere with their functions.

The secretary-general renewed his call for Israel to repeal domestic legislation that bans UNRWA from operating in the country, which he said significantly impedes the agency’s ability to carry out the mandate entrusted to it by the General Assembly.

He urged the Israeli government to immediately halt its interference with the agency’s premises, vacate and return all affected facilities to the UN without delay, and protect them from further interference or damage.

The raid on Kalandia came a day after representatives of more than 25 diplomatic missions and international organizations visited the site, and followed a wave of similar incidents at the center since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

During one incursion in February 2025, tear gas and sound bombs were used while more than 350 students and members of staff were at the center, UNRWA’s commissioner-general said at the time.