War in Gaza
Hamas tunnel discovered under UNRWA headquarters
Israeli soldiers guard a crater-like hole leading to a small tunnel entrance on the UNRWA compound.
© Ariel Schalit / AP
Israeli soldiers say they have discovered a Hamas tunnel under the headquarters of the UN Palestinian Relief Agency in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army and intelligence agency Shin Beth said that operations in the city of Gaza in recent weeks had discovered the tunnel entrance near a UNRWA-run school.
The entrance found “led to an underground terrorist tunnel, which was an important asset for Hamas’s military reconnaissance services, and runs under the building that served as the headquarters of the UNRWA serves in the Gaza Strip,” said the statement from Israel’s army and intelligence agency. The “electrical infrastructure” of the 700-meter-long tunnel is “connected” to UNRWA headquarters. This indicates that the tunnel appears to be “run by UNRWA installations were supplied with electricity”.
In view of the Israeli information, the UN aid agency stated that it had no longer used its headquarters in the city of Gaza since October 12th – a few days after the brutal attack on Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas. This was done on the instructions of Israeli troops, Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter. He doesn’t know anything about a tunnel; there needs to be an independent investigation.
This information was rejected by Israel’s Foreign Minister Katz. Lazzarini’s statements were “not only absurd, but also an affront to common sense,” he explained on X. The UNRWA chief’s “immediate resignation” was “absolutely necessary.”
Allegations against UNRWA employees
Serious allegations have recently become known against UNRWA employees: Twelve employees of the UN relief agency are suspected of being involved in the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th. In response to the allegations, countries such as Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and the USA announced that they would temporarily stop their payments to the aid organization. The UN wants to have the allegations investigated by an independent committee.
According to Israeli information, around 1,160 people were brutally killed and 250 were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip during the attack on Israel by Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA. Israel then announced the destruction of Hamas and launched a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas’ latest figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 28,000 people have been killed there since then.