"Palestinian armed actors" took over UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA's Jenin health center in the West Bank, and agency staff have been unable to access the site, UNRWA announced on Friday.
Without naming the "Palestinian armed actors," the UN agency noted that international grants and donations had allowed UNRWA to repeatedly restore the center from the "destruction incurred in the context of Israeli Security Forces operations since mid-2023."
The UNRWA West Bank office stated that it gained knowledge of the ongoing "presence of Palestinian armed actors" in the Health Centre on Tuesday. UNRWA said that it no longer has control over the facility.
"This forced entry and presence of Palestinian armed actors is a new blatant disregard of UN premises. It has occurred while the Palestinian Security Forces are conducting an operation in and around the camp, ongoing since 14 December," UNRWA's statement read. "UNRWA’s service provision in the camp has been severely undermined by the volatile security situation since the beginning of December, with residents unable to consistently access basic services."
UNRWA's Friday announcement comes after the IDF said that the Palestinian Authority was dealing with levels of terror comparable to that of the second intifada.
Third front: West Bank Terror
The Post asserted that the IDF viewed terror in the areas controlled by the PA as its third front in the current war but that the military said that it was set to trend downward.
The PA has been continually fighting against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Jenin throughout December, potentially in a campaign to prove their abilities to rule Gaza after Hamas. The terrorists had gradually gained more sway in the refugee camp with complex weapons from Iran.
Notably, the Post reported that during the second intifada, 450 Israelis were killed. The onset of the Israel-Hamas war saw approximately 40 Israelis in the West Bank in 2024.