Israel claims to have found Hamas tunnel under UNWRA offices

UNRWA responded to these accusations by asserting that its staff had been forced by Israeli forces to leave the building on October 12, five days after the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

Israel accuses UNRWA of being “totally infiltrated by Hamas”. The Israeli army and internal security agency claimed on Saturday February 10 to have discovered an Islamist movement tunnel under the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, in Gaza City. In the process, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz judged “imperative” the resignation of the head of the UN agency, Philippe Lazzarini, in a message published on X.

“We have not used this building since we left it and we are not aware of any activity that may have taken place there,” responded UNRWA, which abandoned the building on October 12, on instructions from Israeli forces as bombing intensified in the area. The premises were last inspected in September 2023, she said in a press release.

The agency calls for “an independent investigation”

Israel’s accusations “deserve an independent investigation, which is currently not possible given that Gaza is in an active war zone,” underlined the UN agency.

Israel recently accused UNRWA of having had 12 employees, out of 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip, involved in the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7 in Israel. An internal UN investigation is underway into the implicated employees from whom UNRWA has separated, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed an independent commission to assess the “neutrality” of the agency.

In response to Israel’s accusations, a dozen countries, including major donors such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden, announced they were suspending their funding to UNRWA.