The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have uncovered a clandestine subterranean data center belonging to Hamas, nestled beneath the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip. The sophisticated server farm, equipped with an electrical room and accommodations for Hamas IT personnel, was strategically positioned directly beneath the UN agency’s complex in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood, reported Times of Israel.
The sprawling tunnel system under the UNRWA HQs ran nearly 60 feet deep and a half-mile long, with one of 10 entrances found near a UNRWA school.
A subterranean Hamas data center underneath UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City, February 8, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters is located in Gaza City’s upscale Rimal neighborhood, an area that the IDF had previously operated in, dismantled the local Hamas battalion and withdrawn its troops from. At the time of the initial ground offensive in Gaza City, the military had not found or known much about the Hamas data center. But new intelligence, primarily emerging from the Shin Bet interrogations of captured terrorists, helped pinpoint where to dig.
The IDF invited reporters for Israeli and foreign news outlets, like The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and The Associated Press, to view the site earlier last week. The Times of Israel reports about the discovery:
The main entrance to the tunnel was located under a UNRWA school in the area. The first stretch of the 700-meter-long tunnel was relatively unremarkable, similar to hundreds of kilometers of underground passages the terror group has built across the Gaza Strip. The passage had several other branching paths. The route we followed led to a small hole, which after climbing through, revealed a large hallway with flooring, wall tiles, air conditioning and lighting fixtures. The hallway was plastered with posters bearing the logo of Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, some with operational security instructions for the terrorists managing the data center. In this part of the tunnel Hamas IT and intelligence staff would supervise and manage the data center. Along the hallway, there were several rooms, including a kitchenette, a meeting room with office chairs, two bathrooms and living quarters with several mattresses. Also in the hallway, troops found several small mobility scooters, thought to have been used by Hamas to traverse through the tunnel’s facilities with ease. From the main hallway, a 300-meter passage led to the data center and nearby electrical room. There Hamas kept its intelligence servers.
An electrical room serving an underground Hamas data center, beneath the UNRWA headquarters, uncovered by the IDF in Gaza City, February 8, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)“The IDF was here previously, the first time was to destroy the enemy, but when we were here the last time we collected a lot of intelligence documents and findings, a lot of prisoners, and thanks to this we reached here. Now we carried out a targeted operation to take this capability away,” said the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Benny Aharon. The IDF also said that in some of the offices of UNRWA officials, troops found equipment and documents that indicated that the same offices were also used by Hamas terrorists. “There is no doubt that UNRWA staff knew that [Hamas] was digging a massive tunnel beneath them,” Aharon said. “There’s a perimeter wall, a gate, cameras, at the gate they log who comes in and out. Whoever worked at UNRWA knew very well who was coming in, and who they were covering for…UNRWA provides cover for Hamas, UNRWA knows exactly what is happening underground, and UNRWA uses its budget to fund some of Hamas’s military capabilities, this is for certain,” he said.
At the main building in the UN complex, Aharon led the reporters to UNRWA’s server room, which he said sits directly above the underground Hamas data center, where the reporters had been a short while earlier. “Some of the cables connect down,” he said, showing a line of cables running down to and into the floor, as reporters stood above the Hamas data center. The IDF said the electrical cables leading from the UN building to the tunnel were providing power to the Hamas infrastructure belowground.
Israeli forces have discovered a vast tunnel network running under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, providing new evidence of Hamas exploitation of the relief agency for Palestinians.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini denied any knowledge of the Hamas center uncovered by the IDF. UNRWA “did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza,”. Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, also called for the UNRWA Commissioner-General to resign, responding “it’s not that you didn’t know, it’s that you didn’t WANT to know…Philippe Lazzarini’s claim of unawareness is not only absurd but also an affront to common sense. His prompt resignation is imperative.”
TBN Israel’s Yair Pinto reports on the Israel-Hamas War. He explains how IDF’s discovered a Hamas facility hidden beneath the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City:
The Israeli Security Agency stated that the tunnel served as a crucial asset for Hamas’ military intelligence. The IDF has found similar power systems installed in tunnel networks that ran beneath hospitals in Gaza and stole electricity from the buildings.
This extensive tunnel network<, equipped with sophisticated infrastructure, challenges UNRWA’s claims of ignorance. With weapons, ammunition, and critical intelligence tools found within UNRWA’s premises, questions the neutrality of international organizations in conflict zones.
My previous article – UNRWA support for Hamas waning [Op-Ed] – gives more background about UNRWA’s support to Hamas.
Sources i.a: TheNewArab , i24news , Times of Israel
