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Israeli soldier in the tunnel under the UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip

Photo: Ariel Schalit / AP

Explosive discovery: Israeli soldiers say they have discovered a Hamas tunnel under the headquarters of the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army and the Shin Bet intelligence agency said on Saturday that during operations in the city of Gaza in recent weeks, the tunnel entrance had been discovered near a UNRWA-run school.

"The entrance led to an underground terrorist tunnel, which was an important asset for Hamas's military intelligence services, and runs under the building that serves as the UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip," said the statement from Israel's army and intelligence agency. The “electrical infrastructure” of the 700 meter long and 18 meter deep tunnel is “connected” to the UNRWA headquarters. This indicates that the tunnel was apparently "supplied with electricity from UNRWA installations."

In view of the Israeli statements, UNRWA stated that it had no knowledge of the tunnel; In addition, it has not used its headquarters in the city of Gaza since October 12th, abandoning it a few days after Hamas' brutal attack on Israel.

Serious allegations have recently become known against UNRWA employees: Twelve employees of the UN aid agency are suspected of being involved in the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th. In response to the allegations, countries such as Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and the USA announced that they would temporarily stop their payments to the aid organization. The UN wants to have the allegations investigated by an independent committee.

According to Israeli information, around 1,200 people were brutally killed and 250 were kidnapped as hostages in the Gaza Strip during the attack on Israel by Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and the USA. Israel then announced the destruction of Hamas and launched a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas' latest figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 28,000 people have been killed there since then.

dop/AFP