The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has admitted finding what appears to be a tunnel utilized by armed Palestinian groups during the recent 11-day conflagration with Israel beneath one of its schools.
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In a statement released Saturday, UNRWA claimed that "the Israeli Air Force conducted strikes that caused damage to UNRWA installations, most notably to the UNRWA Zaitoun Preparatory Boys' School 'A' and Elementary Boys' School 'A.'"
While declaring the inviolability of UNRWA premises and noting all UN buildings "are marked as such and fly a United Nations flag on the roof," the agency acknowledged that "no displaced persons were inside the school at the time of the strike and no physical injuries were caused."
UNRWA found a Hamas tunnel dug 7 meters below its Zaitoun Prep A Boys School in Gaza.
"UNRWA condemns the existence & potential use by Palestinian armed groups of such tunnels underneath its schools in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable thathttps://t.co/jVsrDWNRe0 pic.twitter.com/oxAqp0VCdt
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 6, 2021
The agency failed to mention the Israel Defense Force was very likely to have called ahead of the strike to warn the school would be targeted.
In the statement, UNRWA said that "while investigating how to secure the building from the missiles, a detailed assessment on May 31, 2021 revealed what appears to be a cavity and a possible tunnel, at the location of the missile strike. The depth of the cavity is approximately 7.5 meters below the surface of the school. UNRWA discovered the existence of a possible tunnel in the context of the investigation of the fired missiles.
"There is no indication of the existence of any entry or exit points for the tunnel within the premises," it said.\
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While the UN body publicly condemned the "existence and potential use by Palestinian armed groups of such tunnels underneath its schools in the strongest possible terms," this is by no means the first time Gaza Strip terrorists have stored and even fired weapons from UNRWA schools.
UNRWA has recently faced criticism from the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers, with Hamas ousting the agency's Gaza director after he called Israeli airstrikes "precise" in an interview with an Israeli news channel last week.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
