Palestinian school girls walk around in the playground at an UNRWA school in the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem. AFP
A closure notice written in Hebrew was left at the entrance of at least one of the schools, and UNRWA said at least one of its staff members was detained, an AFP photographer at the scene reported.
"From May 8, 2025, it will be prohibited to operate educational institutions, or employ teachers, teaching staff or any other staff, and it will be forbidden to accommodate students or allow the entry of students into this institution," the closure order read.
UNRWA's director in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, told AFP that "heavily armed" forces surrounded three UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem's Shuafat camp at 9:00am on Thursday.
Friedrich added that 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced, calling the event "a traumatising experience for young children who are at immediate risk of losing their access to education."
He noted that police were deployed at three separate schools in other parts of East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Governorate confirmed on Thursday that Israeli occupation forces stormed UNRWA schools and forced students and educational staff to evacuate immediately, WAFA news agency reported.
The governorate considered the closures a blatant attack on a UN institution that enjoys international protection under international law.
"This unjust decision marks a serious escalation in the systematic Israeli campaign to undermine the role of UNRWA," the governorate said in a statement.
In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed a law banning all UNRWA activities, in defiance of international pressure to maintain the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population.
UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees displaced after the 1948 war.
The agency provides essential and life-saving humanitarian aid and basic services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Palestinian refugees in nearby countries.
In Gaza, Israel has targeted and destroyed most of the UNRWA schools and infrastructure, killing tens of its staff, since the start of its genocidal war on the strip in October 2023, thus depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of basic health and education services.
On 8 April, Israeli authorities issued closure orders to three UNRWA schools in Shuafat refugee camp and three others in Jerusalem neighbourhoods Sur Baher, Silwan, and Wadi Al-Joz.
UNRWA had previously warned that the implementation of these closures would deny 800 Palestinian children their right to education, constituting a breach of Israel’s obligations as an occupier under international law.
"The Palestinian Ministry of Education condemns Israel's closure of UNRWA schools in Shuafat, considering it a violation of children's right to education," Ministry Spokesman Sadiq Khaddour told AFP.
Khaddour said the ministry hoped that pressure from rights groups would cause Israel to withdraw its decision.
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