Israeli army, security agency claim existence of tunnel shaft under UNRWA school in Gaza

The Israeli military claimed that there is a Hamas tunnel under the Gaza headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

The Israeli army and security agency claimed that a “tunnel shaft” was found near a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) during operations in Gaza in recent weeks.

“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 a statement.

UNRWA is already under scrutiny after it sacked a number of staff last month following Israeli allegations that they took part in the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas.

“Electrical infrastructure” in the tunnel — 700 metres (765 yards) long and 18 metres underground — “connected” to the agency’s HQ, “indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity”, they said.

Documents and a stash of weapons in the UN compound itself “confirmed that the offices had in fact also been used by Hamas terrorists”, the joint statement said.

UNRWA said its staff were forced to leave its Gaza City compound under instruction from Israeli forces as bombardment intensified in the area.

Any suspicious activity found near or under any UNRWA premises was previously reported to the authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Israelis, and also made public, it added.

“The Israeli authorities have not informed UNRWA officially about the alleged tunnel.”

The UN has launched two separate probes into UNRWA, the first into the Israeli claims of staff participation on October 7, and the other a review of its overall political neutrality.

Source: Newsroom & Agence France-Presse