Israel tells UNRWA chief to quit over Hamas ‘tunnel’ under HQ
JERUSALEM—Israel’s foreign minister on Saturday called for the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to quit, following the discovery of an alleged Hamas tunnel under its evacuated Gaza City headquarters.
Israel Katz dismissed as “not only absurd but also an affront to common sense” the claim of UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini’s that he was unaware of the tunnel’s presence.
“His prompt resignation is imperative,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Lazzarini, already under pressure after Israel claimed some UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, said the agency had not operated from the compound since Oct. 12.
Instead he called for an independent investigation.
Hamas has previously denied Israeli claims that it had dug an extensive network of tunnels under schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure as cover for its activities.
The Israeli military has however led media to tours of alleged Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s army and the 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 humanitarian agency.
“The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’ military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as the UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip,” they added in a statement.
‘Connected’
“Electrical infrastructure” in the tunnel—700 meters long and 18 meters underground—“connected” to the agency’s HQ, “indicating that the 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.
Katz claimed the discovery showed the UNRWA’s “deep involvement” with Hamas.
Army engineers took reporters for foreign news outlets through the passages.
Reporters on the closely escorted trip entered a shaft next to a school on the periphery of the UN compound, descending to the concrete-lined tunnel. Twenty minutes of walking through the stifling hot, narrow and occasionally winding passage brought them underneath the UNRWA Headquarters, an army lieutenant colonel leading the tour said.
The tunnel bifurcated at times, revealing side-rooms. 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.
Central command
“This is one of the central commands of the intelligence. This place is one of the Hamas intelligence units, where they commanded most of the combat.”
Lazzarini wrote on X that its staff were forced to leave its Gaza City compound under instruction from Israeli forces as bombardment intensified in the area and had not returned.
“We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there,” he added.
The compound was last inspected in September 2023, he said.
In a statement, the UNRWA said it had vacated the headquarters on Oct. 12, five days after the war began, and was therefore “unable to confirm or otherwise comment” on the Israeli finding.
“UNRWA … does not have the military and security expertise nor the capacity to undertake military inspections of what is or might be under its premises,” the statement said.
The UN has launched two separate probes into UNRWA, the first into Israeli claims that 12 of its staff may have participated on Oct. 7, and the other a review of its overall political neutrality.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has spoken out in defense of the agency, calling it the “backbone” of Gaza aid.
So too has US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said it played an “absolutely indispensable role in trying to make sure that men, women and children who so desperately need assistance in Gaza actually get it.” —with reports from AFP, REUTERS
