Israel closes 6 UN schools for Palestinians in east Jerusalem

Israel permanently closed six UN schools in east Jerusalem on Thursday, forcing Palestinian students to leave early and throwing the education of more than 800 others into question.

Last month, heavily armed Israeli police and Education Ministry officials ordered six schools in east Jerusalem to close within 30 days, which ended on Wednesday.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, runs the six schools. UNRWA also runs schools in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which continue to operate.

An UNRWA spokesperson said on 8 May, heavily armed Israeli forces, accompanied by education and municipal officials, forcibly entered and shut down three UNRWA schools in the Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, while classes were in session with over 550 students present.

One staff member was detained, and others were ordered to dismiss students. Israeli police were also deployed at three other UNRWA schools, prompting the agency to send home 250 additional students for safety.

In total, around 800 children now face losing access to education, with no alternatives. UNRWA condemned the closures as illegal under international law and a deliberate denial of education, tied to Israeli legislation targeting the agency.

The closure orders come after Israel banned UNRWA from operating on its soil earlier this year, the culmination of a long campaign against the agency that intensified following the 7 October attacks.

Israel claims that UNRWA schools teach antisemitic content and anti-Israel sentiment, which UNRWA denies.

UNRWA is the main provider of education and health care to Palestinian refugees across east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 six-day war. Israel has annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its unified capital.

The Israeli Ministry of Education says it will place the students in other Jerusalem schools.

But parents, teachers and administrators caution that closing the main schools in east Jerusalem will force their children to go through crowded and dangerous checkpoints daily, and some do not have the correct permits to pass through.

In a previous statement to The Associated Press, the Ministry of Education said it closed the schools because they operated without a license.

UNRWA administrators pledged to keep the schools open for as long as possible.