UN officials said on Thursday that militants are still occupying an UNRWA school in Lebanon’s largest “Palestinian refugee camp”, two weeks after clashes there ended, The Associated Press reported.
Dorothee Klaus, director of UNRWA, the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees”, in Lebanon, said in a statement that the agency has “received alarming reports that armed actors continue to occupy its installations including a school compound” in the Ain Al-Hilweh camp.
The compound provides education to 3,200 out of a total of 6,000 students in the camp, which is home to more than 50,000 people. Earlier this month, Klaus said that the start of the school year might be delayed for students in the camp due to damages to the school facilities.
Klaus said the continued presence of militants is a “grave violation of the inviolability of UN premises under international law, which compromises the neutrality of UNRWA installations and undermines the safety and security of our staff” and of the refugees living in the camp.
A local Palestinian Arab official told AP militants from both of the opposing sides had taken over different schools, using them as a “safe haven,” and had looted computers and equipment.
The school buildings had been heavily fortified to protect children in the event of clashes, after previous outbreaks of fighting in the camp.
The deadly clashes in Ain Al-Hilweh, located near the port city of Sidon, erupted after Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party accused Islamist groups Jund al Sham and Shabab al Muslim of gunning down a Fatah military general in the camp.
The clashes prompted some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, to urge their citizens to leave Lebanon immediately, while others, such as Kuwait, warned their citizens to stay away from areas of disturbance.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on Abbas to demand an end to the volatile situation in Ain Al-Hilweh, warning that the army may have to intervene to stop the fighting.
Ain Al-Hilweh is notorious for its lawlessness and violence is not uncommon. The UN says about 55,000 people live in the camp.
Lebanese residents who are registered as “Palestinian refugees” and their descendants who were born in that country reside in residential neighborhoods known as "refugee camps", have limited work options and are refused citizenship.
Lebanon refuses to naturalize the “Palestinian refugees” and has stressed the need to work for their return to their country of origin, which Palestinian Arabs claim is Israel.
Several years ago, Lebanese authorities launched a crackdown on foreign workers, including people registered as “Palestinian refugees”.
According to a population census conducted in 2017, there are 174,422 “Palestinian refugees” residing in Lebanon in 12 "refugee camps" and in 152 residential neighborhoods throughout the country.