Days after the Israel Defense Forces accused employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of participating in the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli soldiers announced a bombshell find beneath the sandy soil of Gaza. According to Israeli authorities, troopers found a Hamas intelligence and communications hub directly under the headquarters of the U.N. relief group.
The Wall Street Journal has more on the latest evidence suggesting collusion between Hamas and the UNRWA:
Part of a warren of tunnels and subterranean chambers carved from the Gaza Strip’s sandy soil, the compound below the United Nations Relief and Works Agency buildings in Gaza City appears to have run on electricity drawn from the U.N.’s power supply, Israeli officials said.
A Wall Street Journal reporter and journalists from other news organizations visited the site this past week in a trip organized by Israel’s military. A tunnel also appeared to pass beneath a U.N.-run school near the headquarters.
The location of a Hamas military installation under important U.N. facilities is evidence, Israeli officials say, of Hamas’s widespread use of sensitive civilian infrastructure as shields to protect its militant activities. Tunnel complexes have also been found near or under some of Gaza’s largest hospitals.
Israel’s discovery of the Hamas operations below Unrwa offices is likely to put further pressure on the agency, which is facing international scrutiny after Israeli allegations that at least 12 of its employees had links to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which authorities say killed 1,200 people.
Israeli authorities maintain that at least some UNRWA employees must have been aware of the subterranean complex, giving its proximity and impact on electricity consumption at the U.N. headquarters.
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