Israel Discovers Hamas Tunnel Under UNRWA Headquarters In Gaza
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s military says it has discovered a massive Hamas tunnel network under the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza.
The tunnel, hundreds of meters (yards) long, was new evidence of UNRWA’s ties to Hamas, according to Israeli officials. Last month, a U.S. government report emerged saying employees of the UNRWA were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel in which some 1,200 people died and hundreds were abducted.
At least 12 employees have since been fired for their alleged role in kidnapping Israelis, transporting ammunition and the body of a dead soldier, and taking part in a murderous assault on a kibbutz, officials said.
However, on Sunday, pressure was mounting on UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini to resign after Israeli forces showed media what they said was a Hamas tunnel under its Gaza City headquarters.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz dismissed Lazzarini’s claim that he was unaware of its presence as “not only absurd but also an affront to common sense.”
“His prompt resignation is imperative,” he wrote on social media network X, formerly Twitter.
Despite mounting evidence, Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it has dug an extensive network of tunnels under schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure to hide its weapons, fighters, and even hostages.
TUNNEL SHAFT
Israel’s army and its Shin Bet security agency said operations in Gaza City in recent weeks led to the discovery of a “tunnel shaft” near a school run by the UN agency.
“The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’s military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip,” they added in remarks monitored by Worthy News.
“Electrical infrastructure” in the tunnel — 700 meters (765 yards) long and 18 meters underground — “connected” to the agency’s Headquarters, “indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity,” they stressed.
There was an office space with steel safes that had been opened and emptied. There was a tiled toilet. One large chamber was packed with computer servers, another with industrial battery stacks, reporters witnessed.
Israel’s military and Shin Bet security agency also claimed they found weapons inside the rooms and that even the office of the UNRWA was used by Hamas.
“Large quantities of weapons were found inside the rooms of the building, including rifles, ammunition, grenades, and explosives,” the joint statement said. “Intelligence and documents discovered in the offices of UNRWA officials confirmed that the offices had, in fact, also been used by Hamas terrorists.”
UNRWA claimed it abandoned the headquarters on October 12, five long days after the Hamas massacre that Israel and the U.S. say was partly carried out by Hamas-supporting UNRWA staff.
MANY KILLED
Several donor nations have halted funding for UNRWA despite U.N. warnings it will add to a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry claims more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory military operations in Gaza following the Hamas massacre on October 7.
However, those figures have been difficult to verify independently.
Israel has recognized that innocent people died in its operations but accused Hamas of hiding among civilians, including in tunnels such as the network discovered under the UNRWA headquarters.
The Israeli military claims it has killed more than 9,000 Hamas fighters, about 30 percent of the group’s estimated combat forces.
However, support for Hamas among Palestinians is believed to be significantly higher.