DrThe links between Hamas and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) appear to be greater than previously known: the Israeli Armed Forces released a video on Channel X on Tuesday that reportedly shows Hamas terrorists in one of the agency’s facilities.
In the video, several armed people can be seen walking through the grounds of an UNRWA warehouse. UN vehicles can also be seen. According to the Israeli institution COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories), which coordinates the delivery of Israeli aid to the Gaza Strip, the drone footage comes from a warehouse in eastern Rafah. The warehouse aims to be a central hub for aid for the Gaza Strip. The Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories called on the United Nations to investigate.
The United Nations and UNRWA have not yet responded to these accusations. In recent months it has become known that several employees of the relief organization may be involved in the Hamas attack on Israel. They were expelled. Hamas also used the relief organization’s schools and hospitals as places to hide weapons or as a command center.
Therefore, Israel also attacks these targets when Hamas uses them, including on Tuesday. The army said it killed more than 10 Hamas members in an air strike that targeted a command center. The building is said to have been a school. Hamas set up a “war room” in the middle of a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The Health Authority in the Gaza Strip said that 15 displaced people were killed in the attack on the school. The Health Authority is under Hamas control.
Delivering aid to Gaza through a temporary port
On the other hand, the US Department of Defense said that aid supplies will be delivered to the Gaza Strip for the first time through a temporary port in the coming days. Until now there was no harbor deep enough for large cargo ships.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said: “In the coming days, as part of an international effort in coordination with the United Nations and the World Food Program, the United States will begin facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the Cyprus sea corridor.” He said Tuesday in Washington.
The plan is for a cargo ship to transport aid supplies from Cyprus directly to a floating dock. The goods are scheduled to be loaded onto other ships there and transported to another mobile dam on the coast. From there they should go to the beach.