Israel’s Ambassador to the US and the UN, Gilad Erdan, on Tuesday called for a UN investigation into an incident in which Hamas terrorists prevented UN experts from operating in the area of a tunnel shaft exposed over two months ago beneath an UNRWA school in Gaza City.
“Knowing that a Hamas tunnel runs under a school in Gaza, UN experts wanted to investigate whether it was safe to open it for the year. Hamas prevented them from operating and forced them out,” he tweeted.
“I've demanded that the UN Secretary-General & Director General of UNRWA investigate this incident & all UNRWA facilities in Gaza to ensure that they are not being used by Hamas for terror,” added Erdan.
“4,000 Palestinian kids can't go to school because of Hamas! The international community cannot ignore Hamas's heinous human rights violations & the state of terror it inflicts on Gazans. Hamas is a terror organization that uses innocents & children as hostages & human shields.”
Kan 11 News reported on Tuesday that a team from the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) had arrived at the school a few days ago, as per UNRWA's request, in order to ensure that there were no explosives in the area and that it was safe to start the school year at that school. Meanwhile, a tunnel is believed to run beneath the school.
Upon learning that UNMAS was visiting the school, the Hamas police force immediately arrived at the scene and requested that the experts immediately vacate the premises. Following their exit, Hamas closed off the site.
The tunnel in question was discovered by UNRWA during the recent 11-day round of fighting between Israel and Gaza.
Created in 1949, UNRWA supplies aid to more than three million of the five million registered “Palestinian refugees” in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and territories assigned to the Palestinian Authority.
However, it has also come under fire for its anti-Israel activities. During the 2014 counterterrorism Operation Protective Edge, Hamas rockets were discovered inside a school building run by UNRWA.
Likewise, a booby-trapped UNRWA clinic was detonated, killing three IDF soldiers. Aside from the massive amounts of explosives hidden in the walls of the clinic, it was revealed that it stood on top of dozens of terror tunnels, showing how UNRWA is closely embedded with Hamas.