The Israeli navy has claimed the invention of a Hamas tunnel beneath the headquarters of the UN company for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza Metropolis. The UNRWA mentioned it had vacated the premises in October.
The Israeli navy took reporters on a tour of the tunnel. Nevertheless, the shortage of a cell sign within the tunnel made it unattainable to geolocate it and ensure it was certainly under the UNRWA headquarters, the Reuters information company mentioned.
“Every thing is carried out from right here. All of the power for the tunnels, which you walked by means of them are powered from right here,” Reuters cited a lieutenant-colonel, who gave solely his first title, Ido, as saying through the tour.
He was referring to a aspect room within the tunnel full of industrial battery stacks. Israel claimed the tunnel was powered by electrical energy equipped from the UNRWA headquarters.
UNRWA mentioned its employees have been pressured to go away the headquarters on October 12, beneath Israeli directions. It added that it had not used the power since vacating and was not “conscious of any exercise that will have taken place there.”
Gaza Metropolis, the place the headquarters relies, was among the many first areas of the enclave the place Israel’s floor offensive was centered.
The UN company mentioned it “doesn’t have the navy and safety experience nor the capability to undertake navy inspections of what’s or could be beneath its premises.”
UNRWA has come beneath hearth in latest weeks after Israel alleged that members of its employees have been concerned within the lethal October 7 terror assaults, which Israel says left round 1,200 killed.
The company fired 12 employees members and probed the allegations, however, within the course of, a lot of its main donors have frozen their support contributions, together with Germany and the US.
