Occupied Jerusalem, Aug. 26 (Petra) --For the 2nd day, Israeli occupation forces are controlling the Qalandia Vocational Training Centre, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the Jerusalem Governorate said Wednesday.

Israeli troops stationed inside the facility, located in the Qalandia and Kafr Aqab areas north of occupied Jerusalem, are rotated continuously, the governorate said in a statement. Reinforcements arrived at the site overnight and into Wednesday morning.

Evacuating the center Tuesday, Israeli forces seized its complex and raised an Israeli flag over the compound. Troops wre then deployed through the streets and alleys of the Qalandia refugee camp and Kafr Aqab, carrying out raids, searches and field interrogations of a number of residents.

After joining the raid, the far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said occupation authorities had launched the so-called "a process to evacuate the building," alleging that "there is no place for the UNRWA in Jerusalem and Israel." The complex houses educational, vocational and health facilities. UNRWA had previously warned of an Israeli plan targeting its installations at the site, saying its implementation would require demolishing most of the training center's facilities.

The move forms part of a broader escalation by Israeli authorities against UNRWA and its institutions in the Jerusalem governorate, amid sustained Israeli efforts to end the agency's operations and restrict its activities despite its United Nations mandate to serve Palestinian refugees.

Israeli occupation authorities had earlier approved a series of measures targeting UNRWA's work, including barring the agency from operating in the occupied territories and revoking previously granted arrangements and privileges, which is a move that drew widespread Palestinian and international condemnation.

//Petra// NQ