The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that they had discovered a tunnel network hundreds of meters long, with parts of it running under the Gaza headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), furthering its claims that Hamas was exploiting the agency for its cause.
Military engineers took reporters for foreign outlets through the passages at a time of crisis for UNRWA, which launched an internal investigation following revelations that several employees took part in the October 7 Hamas attack on Southern Israel, which caused several countries to cut their UNRWA funding.
On the other hand, the Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which employed 13,000 in Gaza and has been considered a lifeline for the aid-dependent population for years, Reuters reported.
Hamas Command Post Under Gaza
UNRWA's headquarters is located in Gaza City, which has been overrun by Israeli forces since the Hamas attack, which sent hundreds of thousands of civilians fleeing southward.
Reporters who went on the IDF-escorted trip entered a shaft next to a school on the periphery of the UN compound, descending to the concrete-lined tunnel. After 20 minutes, the tunnels the contingent walked through allegedly brought them underneath the UNRWA headquarters, according to an army officer.
IDF officers alleged that the tunnel was 700 meters long and 18 meters deep, and included side rooms, office space, steel safes that have since been opened and emptied, a tiled toilet, computer servers, and industrial battery stacks. They added that the tunnels were used as their command and intelligence center.
"Everything is conducted from here," an Israeli lieutenant colonel named Ido told the reporters on the underground tour. "All the energy for the tunnels, which you walked through them, are powered from here."
As a condition of taking journalists on the trip, the IDF did not allow photographs of military intelligence, such as maps or certain equipment in the convoy of armored vehicles they traveled in. It also requested approval before the transmission of photographs and video footage taken on the trip.
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UNRWA Cannot Confirm If Hamas Has a Tunnel Under Its HQ
The officer added that Hamas evacuated the facility in the face of the Israeli advance, preemptively cutting off communication cables that he showed running through the floor of the UNRWA Headquarters' basement during the above-ground part of the tour.
However, UNRWA said in its statement that it had vacated the headquarters on Oct. 12, five days after the war began, and was "unable to confirm or otherwise comment" on the Israeli finding.
"UNRWA ... does not have the military and security expertise nor the capacity to undertake military inspections of what is or might be under its premises," the statement said. "In the past, whenever (a) suspicious cavity was found close to or under UNRWA premises, protest letters were promptly filed to parties to the conflict, including both the de facto authorities in Gaza (Hamas) and the Israeli authorities."
