Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) (European)

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that his organization had seen Israeli reports about the existence of a tunnel under its headquarters in the Gaza Strip, indicating that UNRWA could not confirm or comment on these reports.

Lazzarini wrote - in his account on the social media platform “X” - that what is understood from the media reports is that the Israeli army has deployed forces inside the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City.

He added that the Israeli authorities did not officially inform the agency about the alleged tunnel, stressing that this media report requires “an independent investigation, which cannot be conducted currently given that Gaza is an active war zone.”

Lazzarini said that UNRWA inspects its buildings every three months “when the area is not witnessing an active conflict,” and that the last inspection in the sector was in September 2023, and “whenever a suspicious cavity is found near or under UNRWA buildings, letters of protest are submitted immediately.” To the parties to the conflict, including the de facto authorities in Gaza, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Israeli authorities.”

He stressed that this issue is constantly reported in the annual reports submitted to the General Assembly and published for public opinion.

Lazzarini explained that UNRWA employees left their main headquarters in Gaza City on October 12, 2023, following Israeli evacuation orders and the intensification of bombing in the area, stressing that the UN organization has not used this place since he left and is not aware of any activity that may have occurred there.

Several countries, led by America and the European Union, decided to stop funding UNRWA (Reuters)

Humanitarian organization

The Commissioner-General of UNRWA indicated that the agency does not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza, explaining that it is a humanitarian development organization, and does not have military and security experience nor the ability to conduct military inspections of what is or may be under its buildings.

The Israeli army said that it had discovered a tunnel under the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza that was used by Hamas.

In reaction from Israel, its representative to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called on the Commissioner-General of UNRWA to assume responsibility and resign from the leadership of this international organization.

Erdan said in a tweet in response to the agency’s Commissioner-General, “It is not that you do not know, but rather that you do not want to know. We have exposed terrorist tunnels under UNRWA schools, and provided evidence that Hamas is exploiting UNRWA.”

The Israeli official added, "We appealed to you to conduct a comprehensive inspection of all UNRWA facilities in Gaza. But you not only refused, but chose to bury your head in the sand."

Several countries - led by the United States in addition to the European Union - decided to suspend funding for UNRWA, based on Israeli allegations that 12 of the agency’s employees participated in the Hamas attack on October 7.

UN officials had warned of the disastrous consequences of the steps taken by these countries towards the UN agency, stressing the impossibility of finding an alternative to UNRWA.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies