An Israeli soldier standing in entrance of a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) constructing in Gaza City. This photograph was taken throughout a managed tour by the Israeli military on Feb. 8 and subsequently edited beneath the supervision of the Israeli navy.

Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Images

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Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Images

An Israeli soldier standing in entrance of a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) constructing in Gaza City. This photograph was taken throughout a managed tour by the Israeli military on Feb. 8 and subsequently edited beneath the supervision of the Israeli navy.

Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Images

The Israeli navy mentioned on Saturday that it has discovered a community of tunnels beneath the Gaza headquarters of the United Nations company that gives assist to Palestinians, often known as UNRWA. It mentioned that Hamas saved electrical provides within the tunnels and that the UNRWA headquarters equipped the tunnels with electrical energy.

The Israeli navy additionally mentioned that it had found weapons contained in the rooms of the UNRWA constructing, together with rifles and explosives.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini mentioned on Saturday that UNRWA didn’t know what was beneath its headquarters and that it had evacuated the constructing on Oct. 12 when Israel ordered folks to depart Gaza City.

These are the newest allegations by Israel in opposition to UNRWA. Last month, Israel offered the company with proof that 12 individuals who labored for the group took half within the Oct. 7 Hamas assaults in Israel that killed some 1,200 folks. UNRWA said of the 12 folks implicated, 9 had been fired, one was confirmed lifeless, and it was wanting into the id of two others.

Lazzarini mentioned that the current allegations of the tunnels “merit an independent inquiry that is currently not possible to undertake given Gaza is an active war zone.”

A lot of international locations together with the United States mentioned they had been pausing funding whereas wanting into the Oct. 7 allegations. As of Jan. 27, UNRWA mentioned nine countries had briefly suspended its funding.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, instructed NPR on Friday that whereas the U.S. was working with the U.N. to analyze Israel’s allegations of UNRWA workers involvement within the Oct. 7 assaults, the U.S. was persevering with to “look for paths to provide needed humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.”

She added: “UNWRA is the only international organization with the capacity, with the infrastructure to provide that assistance. So whether it’s through funding from the U.S. or funding from others, we will work to ensure that assistance continues to flow into the people of Gaza.”

UNRWA mentioned that it will run out of funding by the top of February if international locations didn’t resume donations, and that it may put almost 1.7 million people who find themselves sheltering in or close to its services in danger.

UNRWA was established in 1949 by U.N. decision and it’s mandated to offer direct aid to Palestinians who had been displaced by the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

For over 70 years, the U.N. General Assembly has continued to resume UNRWA’s mandate, instructing the company to offer well being care, housing and monetary help to Palestinian refugees all through Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.