UNRWA Denies Knowledge of Hamas Command Tunnel Directly Under Its Gaza HQ
The IDF announced it had discovered a Hamas data center directly beneath the Gaza city headquarters of UNRWA in the Rimal neighborhood. The subterranean center housed one of Hamas’ most important assets and had an electrical room, industrial battery power banks and living quarters for Hamas terrorists operating the computer servers.
As UNRWA claims to be a humanitarian institution, the IDF was unable to target or even search the location. The Shin Bet stated that knowledge of the site was the result of ongoing interrogations of captured Hamas terrorists. The main entrance to the tunnel was located under a UNRWA school that had been blocked off by Hamas before IDF troops arrived. It ran 18 meters deep and was dug underneath the UNRWA headquarters.
Combat engineers dug down around eight meters to find the shallowest part of the 700-meter tunnel that contained a kitchen area, a meeting room, two bathrooms and living quarters with several mattresses. From the main hallway, a 300-meter passage led to the data center and nearby electrical room.
“The IDF was here previously, the first time was to destroy the enemy, but when we were here the last time we collected a lot of intelligence documents and findings, a lot of prisoners, and thanks to this we reached here. Now we carried out a targeted operation to take this capability away,” said the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Benny Aharon, while giving a media tour of the tunnel and UN complex on Thursday.
“We had a basis of information, but not enough to be able to dig down 20 meters and find it, we needed a bit more. There’s information we get from prisoners we capture, from computers we find, from documents, maps,” he said.
The IDF discovered several cases of weapons at the nearby UNRWA headquarters which had been stripped of all of its computer servers. Communications cables from the Hamas tunnel ran through the floor of the UNRWA Headquarters’ basement. Electricity for the Hamas tunnel came from the UNRWA headquarters.
“There is no doubt that UNRWA staff knew that [Hamas] was digging a massive tunnel beneath them,” an IDF spokesman told Times of Israel. “There’s a perimeter wall, a gate, cameras, at the gate they log who comes in and out. Whoever worked at UNRWA knew very well who was coming in, and who they were covering for.”
“UNRWA provides cover for Hamas, UNRWA knows exactly what is happening underground, and UNRWA uses its budget to fund some of Hamas’s military capabilities, this is for certain,” he said.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini denied any knowledge of Hamas’s use of UNRWA assets for terrorist activities. Lazzarini claimed that UNRWA staff left the headquarters on October 12, following an Israeli evacuation order, and that they were not aware of any activity that may have taken place there since.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan challenged Lazzarini’s claim of ignorance and called for him to resign.
“It’s not that you didn’t know, it’s that you didn’t WANT to know. We exposed terror tunnels under UNRWA schools and supplied evidence that Hamas exploits UNRWA,” Erdan wrote on Twitter.
“We implored you to carry out a comprehensive search of all UNRWA facilities in Gaza. But not only did you refuse, you chose to stick your head in the sand,” he continued.
“Take responsibility and resign today! Every day we find more proof that in Gaza the UN=Hamas and vice versa. Anything the UN says or claims about Gaza cannot be trusted,” added the Ambassador.
Israel’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Israel Katz, demanded his immediate resignation.
“The exposure of @UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters’ deep involvement with Hamas, including its use for terror activities and as an access point to terror tunnels, requires immediate action,” Katz tweeted. “@UNLazzarini’s claim of unawareness is not only absurd but also an affront to common sense. His prompt resignation is imperative.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed the Israeli statements about the tunnel as “lies”. He told Reuters that Israel aimed to undermine the work of UNRWA and was “covering up to that decision by making these allegations”.
Last month, Israel presented evidence that 12 UNRWA staff took an active role in the October 7 massacre and an additional 1,200 UNRWA staff were associated with or members of the Hamas terrorist organization.
UNRWA Denies Knowledge of Hamas Command Tunnel Under Gaza HQ
The IDF announced it had discovered a Hamas data center directly beneath the Gaza city headquarters of UNRWA in the Rimal neighborhood. The subterranean center housed one of Hamas’ most important assets and had an electrical room, industrial battery power banks and living quarters for Hamas terrorists operating the computer servers.
As UNRWA claims to be a humanitarian institution, the IDF was unable to target or even search the location. The Shin Bet stated that knowledge of the site was the result of ongoing interrogations of captured Hamas terrorists. The main entrance to the tunnel was located under a UNRWA school that had been blocked off by Hamas before IDF troops arrived. It ran 18-meters deep and was dug underneath the UNRWA headquarters.
Combat engineers dug down around eight meters to find the shallowest part of the 700-meter tunnel that contained a kitchen area, a meeting room, two bathrooms and living quarters with several mattresses. From the main hallway, a 300-meter passage led to the data center and nearby electrical room.
“The IDF was here previously, the first time was to destroy the enemy, but when we were here the last time we collected a lot of intelligence documents and findings, a lot of prisoners, and thanks to this we reached here. Now we carried out a targeted operation to take this capability away,” said the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Benny Aharon, while giving a media tour of the tunnel and UN complex on Thursday.
“We had a basis of information, but not enough to be able to dig down 20 meters and find it, we needed a bit more. There’s information we get from prisoners we capture, from computers we find, from documents, maps,” he said.
The IDF discovered several cases of weapons at the nearby UNRWA headquarters which had been stripped of all of its computer servers. Communications cables from the Hamas tunnel ran through the floor of the UNRWA Headquarters’ basement. Electricity for the Hamas tunnel came from the UNRWA headquarters.
“There is no doubt that UNRWA staff knew that [Hamas] was digging a massive tunnel beneath them,” an IDF spokesman told Times of Israel. “There’s a perimeter wall, a gate, cameras, at the gate they log who comes in and out. Whoever worked at UNRWA knew very well who was coming in, and who they were covering for.”
“UNRWA provides cover for Hamas, UNRWA knows exactly what is happening underground, and UNRWA uses its budget to fund some of Hamas’s military capabilities, this is for certain,” he said.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini denied any knowledge of Hamas’s use of UNRWA assets for terrorist activities.Lazzarini claimed that UNRWA staff left the headquarters on October 12, following an Israeli evacuation order, and that they were not aware of any activity that may have taken place there since.
Israel’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Israel Katz, demanded his immediate resignation.
“The exposure of @UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters’ deep involvement with Hamas, including its use for terror activities and as an access point to terror tunnels, requires immediate action,” Katz tweeted. “@UNLazzarini’s claim of unawareness is not only absurd but also an affront to common sense. His prompt resignation is imperative
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed the Israeli statements about the tunnel as “lies”. He told Reuters that Israel aimed to undermine the work of UNRWA and was “covering up to that decision by making these allegations”.
Last month, Israel presented evidence that 12 UNRWA staff took an active role in the October 7 massacre and an additional 1,200 UNRWA staff were associated with or members of the Hamas terrorist organization.
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