The UN’s refugee agency for Palestinians has said that the Israeli military used its Arroub Camp Health Centre near Bethlehem as a temporary detention site during a search and arrest operation on February 12, despite the UN premises being protected by international law, Al Jazeera reports.

“[The military] forcibly entered the health centre and used it for the detention and interrogation of tens of Palestinian residents rounded up in the camp,” a statement by UNRWA said.

It condemned the move as “a blatant disregard for the inviolability of United Nations facilities”.

“Unfortunately, this recent incident follows a pattern of forcible entries into UNRWA installations in the West Bank since October 2023, by both Israeli security forces and Palestinian armed groups,” the statement stressed.

“All UN premises are inviolable and are protected under international law,” UNRWA added.

The agency reminded that the new Israeli laws that entered into force on January 30 impose “a no-contact policy” between UNRWA and Israeli authorities, and the agency is no longer able to engage with Israeli officials to directly report such incidents as they occur.