Israel has begun taking control of a major UNRWA compound in northern Jerusalem, ordering staff out as the city moves to replace the decades-old UN facility with a NIS 40 million educational and community complex for local Arab residents.

Large Israeli security forces entered the Kafr Aqab compound near Qalandiya as municipal crews began work at the site. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he personally ordered the evacuation as part of Israel’s implementation of legislation barring UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was also at the scene, where Palestinian officials said UNRWA employees were instructed to leave and not return.

The Jerusalem Municipality’s plans go far beyond simply closing the facility. More than NIS 40 million, roughly $13 million, is being invested in the first stage of a new municipal campus, including a boys’ high school scheduled to open with the new school year. Future phases are expected to include additional schools, a mosque, sports facilities and healthcare services for thousands of residents in Kafr Aqab.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the land has belonged to the Jewish National Fund since 1937 and was allocated to the Jerusalem Municipality for the project. According to the ministry, UNRWA has no property rights to the plot and had fenced it off for decades, preventing the land from being used for badly needed municipal services.

UNRWA fiercely disputes Israel’s position. The agency says Jordan made the land available to it in the early 1950s, when Jordan controlled the area, and that its Kalandia Training Centre is a protected United Nations installation. The vocational school has operated for more than 70 years and trains roughly 340 to 350 students annually in fields ranging from vehicle maintenance and carpentry to renewable energy and information technology. UNRWA says the Israeli takeover violates the protections afforded to UN premises under international law.

The confrontation is part of Israel’s much broader campaign to remove UNRWA from Jerusalem following revelations surrounding the Hamas-led October 7 massacre. A UN investigation into 19 UNRWA employees accused of involvement in the attack found that nine may have participated, and the agency terminated their employment. Israel has made far wider allegations concerning Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad infiltration of the organization, which UNRWA rejects.

The Knesset initially passed legislation banning UNRWA operations on Israeli territory in 2024. A later amendment gave Israeli authorities explicit powers to take possession of designated UNRWA properties, including the Kafr Aqab site.

Israel has already acted on the other major Jerusalem property targeted by the legislation. Earlier this year, authorities seized UNRWA’s former headquarters near Ma’alot Dafna and Ammunition Hill and began demolishing buildings there. The government has since approved plans for a new defense complex on the property, including an IDF museum, enlistment office and offices for the defense establishment.

The Kafr Aqab operation also follows a recent High Court petition accusing Israeli authorities of failing to fully enforce the law. The petition was filed by Israel Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky, the B’Tsalmo organization and Yaakov Samerano, whose son Yonatan was murdered during the October 7 massacre and whose body was taken into Gaza by an UNRWA employee, according to evidence released by Israel.

What was once a long-running political and legal fight over UNRWA’s presence in Jerusalem is increasingly becoming a physical transformation on the ground. Israel is not merely ordering the agency to leave. At two of its most prominent Jerusalem compounds, authorities are now moving ahead with entirely new Israeli-run projects in their place.