Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, responded on Saturday night to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, who claimed that the UN agency “did not know” that there were Hamas terrorist tunnels under its Gaza headquarters.
“It’s not that you didn’t know, it’s that you didn’t WANT to know. We exposed terror tunnels under UNRWA schools and supplied evidence that Hamas’ exploits UNRWA. We implored you to carry out a comprehensive search of all UNRWA facilities in Gaza. But not only did you refuse, you chose to stick your head in the sand,” Erdan wrote in a post on X.
“Take responsibility and resign today! Every day we find more proof that in Gaza the UN=Hamas and vice versa. Anything the UN says or claims about Gaza cannot be trusted,” added the Ambassador.
Earlier, Lazzarini published a series of bullet points on X in which he claimed that "UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza."
He claimed that “UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as bombardment intensified in the area. We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there.”
"We understand, through media reporting, that the Israeli Army has deployed troops within the UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza City. We are therefore unable to confirm or otherwise comment on these reports,” added Lazzarini.
His post came after the IDF revealed that UNRWA offices served Hamas terrorists for terror activities, and that the tunnel found under the UNRWA headquarters shared electric infrastructure with Hamas.