Israeli forces have discovered a tunnel network hundreds of meters long extending partly under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, the military says, calling it new evidence of Hamas militants burrowing under the main relief agency for Palestinians.
Israeli Army engineers took reporters with foreign news outlets through the tunnel passages. They entered a shaft next to a school on the periphery of the United Nations compound, descending to the concrete-lined tunnel.
After 20 minutes of walking through the hot, narrow and occasionally winding passage, they got underneath UNRWA headquarters, according to an army lieutenant-colonel leading the tour.
The military said the tunnel was 700 meters long, 18 meters deep — bifurcated at times — and it revealed side rooms. There was an office space, with steel safes that had been opened and emptied. There was a tiled toilet. One large chamber was packed with computer servers, another with industrial battery stacks.
“Everything is conducted from here. All the energy for the tunnels, which you walked through them, are powered from here,” said the lieutenant-colonel, who gave only his first name, Ido.
After the discovery of the tunnel, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for the resignation of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on a post on social media platform X.
