NEW YORK, May 8, 2025 (WAFA) – Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, has decried the Israeli occupation authorities’ forcible eviction of students and teaching staff and the closure of several UNRWA-run schools in the Shuafat refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem.

“An assault on children. An assault on education. A sad day in occupied East Jerusalem… Storming schools & forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X. “These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations.”

Earlier this morning, heavily armed Israeli forces entered three UNRWA schools in Shu’fat Camp in occupied East Jerusalem, forcing over 550 girls and boys who were in classrooms out of their schools. One UNRWA staff member was detained.

As a result, UNRWA was forced to evacuate all children across the six schools it runs in East Jerusalem. 

“Storming schools and forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law,” said Lazzarini. “These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations… By enforcing closure orders issued last month, the Israeli authorities are denying Palestinian children their basic right to learn.”

On April 8, the Israeli occupation authorities issued a decision prohibiting anyone from entering the school building after May 8, 2025, including principals, teachers, staff, and parents.

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed a law banning the activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Israel.

M.N