Yuri Kobzar21:48, 02/10/24

The IDF is convinced that UN agency employees could not have been unaware of the underground base beneath them.

The terrorist group Hamas has set up an underground data center directly below the headquarters of the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza. The underground complex was discovered by Israeli army soldiers, writes The Times of Israel .

It is noted that the underground data center was equipped with its own electrical substation, industrial battery power supplies and living quarters for Hamas terrorists who operated the computer servers. It was set up right under the UN agency building – where Israel initially did not even think of looking for such facilities, not to mention airstrikes.

To ensure that the accusations were not unfounded, the IDF invited journalists to visit this underground complex on Thursday, February 8. Today, The Times of Israel published photographic materials from the underground complex, which UNIAN cannot show in this article due to copyright. Journalists, accompanied by military personnel, entered the open tunnel passage and saw with their own eyes a real underground town.

IDF officials believe Hamas used the server center for intelligence gathering, data processing and communications. According to the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Colonel Benny Aaron, his soldiers also found several caches of weapons directly in the UNRWA building, although UN personnel had already been evacuated long ago, so the weapons could have been brought there later.

However, the IDF says that in some UNRWA offices they found equipment and documents indicating that “the same offices were also used by Hamas terrorists.”

“There is no doubt that UNRWA employees knew that [Hamas] was digging a huge tunnel under them. UNRWA provides cover for Hamas, UNRWA knows exactly what is happening underground, and UNRWA uses its budget to finance some of Hamas’s military capabilities, this exactly,” says Colonel Aaron.

At the main UN compound, Aaron led reporters into UNRWA’s server room, which he said was located directly above Hamas’ underground data center.

“Some cables are connecting,” he said, showing a line of cables running down to the floor as journalists stood above a Hamas data center. The IDF said the UN building also provided power to the Hamas underground complex.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, has already responded to this information on Twitter . According to him, the agency allegedly knew nothing about the huge underground complex directly below their headquarters.

“UNRWA did not know what was under its headquarters in Gaza. UNRWA is a human development and humanitarian organization that has no military or security experience and [doesn’t] have the ability to conduct military inspections of what is or may be under his premises,” he said.

Possible cooperation between UNRWA and Hamas

As UNIAN wrote, in January it became known that UNRWA employees were likely involved in the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year. We are talking about 12 agency employees. What exact actions the suspects performed is not reported.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres admitted that UNRWA personnel were indeed involved in the attack on Israel on October 7. In a statement, he said the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services had launched an investigation. 

(C)UNIAN 2024