GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 127

They Knew

Massive Discovery

When the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) denies they knew nothing about a huge subterranean data center used by Hamas that was found by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) such a denial is met with a great amount of incredulity. Yet, the UNRWA chief said just that on X after news of the center became public. We read more on these developments in a report from The Times Of Israel:

Beneath the Gaza Strip headquarters of the controversial United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known commonly as UNRWA, the Hamas terror group hid one of its most significant assets, the Israeli military has revealed.

The subterranean data center — complete with an electrical room, industrial battery power banks and living quarters for Hamas terrorists operating the computer servers — was built precisely under the location where Israel would not consider looking initially, let alone target in an airstrike.

This was no basic 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.

How was it powered? It was connected directly to the power grid used by UNRWA. How they can deny knowing it was there is not believable. It was built right below them. And because of where it was housed, the IDF knew not to target it. They only found it now after the area had been cleared of terrorist activities.

Egg On Their Faces

As I mentioned above, it hard to conceive of UNRWA to not know about this center and to say otherwise is a ruse meant only to quell the most naïve of people. Here is what the chief of UNRWA said on X:

UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza.

- UNRWA is made aware of reports through the media regarding a tunnel under the UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza.

- UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as bombardment intensified in the area.

- We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there.

- We understand, through media reporting, that the Israeli Army has deployed troops within the UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza City.

- We are therefore unable to confirm or otherwise comment on these reports.

According to the rest of Lazzini’s post, they inspect this facility quarterly and if something is suspicious they alert Hamas and Israel. The last time they inspected this property was in September of 2023. Here is more from his post:

UNRWA is a Human development and humanitarian organisation that does not have the military and security expertise nor the capacity to undertake military inspections of what is or might be under its premises.

- In the past, whenever suspicious cavity was found close to or under UNRWA premises, protest letters were promptly filed to parties to the conflict, including both the de facto authorities in Gaza (Hamas) and the Israeli authorities. The matter was consistently reported in annual reports presented to the General Assembly and made public.

- These recent media reports merit an independent inquiry that is currently not possible to undertake given Gaza is an active war zone.

- The Israeli Authorities have not informed UNRWA officially about the alleged tunnel.

The part that is a little confusing is where they said, “the matter was consistently reported in annual reports presented to the General Assembly and made public.” Is he saying that everyone knew this was there or that generally everyone knows about things like this? Regardless, the more we learn about this underground facility the less sense his Mea culpa makes.

I Call Shenanigans

While calling Shenanigans isn’t a formal news term, it fits here. You can make up your own mind after we read more from The Times Of Israel article and read comments from the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Benny Aharon:

At the UNRWA headquarters, Aharon said his forces found several caches of weapons belonging to Hamas when they raided and battled Hamas gunmen for the complex, although it was after the UN staff had evacuated.

“Grenades, rockets, launchers, explosives, a large amount of weapons that would put any Hamas company to shame,” he said.

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.”

Aharon gave us this assessment of how things looked as far as UNRWA is concerned:

“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.

Hiding More Evidence

As previously stated, UNRWA and Hamas shared power for both computer rooms:

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 we 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.

UNRWA took pains to not leave evidence of the collusion:

The UNRWA server room, unlike the Hamas one, appeared to be mostly empty. One server cabinet was placed outside the room, but it had been stripped of all the computers.

“They cleared out all the computers, all the DVRs (digital video recorder for surveillance cameras), cut [most of] the cables, this is the behavior of someone who has something to hide,” Aharon said.

“Someone who works at UNRWA, who is supposed to care for human rights, to care for the welfare of the population in Gaza, shouldn’t rush to disconnect all the DVRs, the cameras, cut all the wires and take all the computers. These are the actions of someone who knew the army was coming and wanted to hide the evidence,” he said.

Hamas knew exactly where to locate this center:

Hazan said that Hamas “didn’t randomly select this area. It knows that during peacetime and in previous wars [Israel] didn’t have the legitimacy to strike a UNRWA building and collapse it on the tunnel.”

Aharon and his soldiers were still taken aback at what they found:

“We were shocked to the depths of our souls, that an organization that is meant to be caring for human rights, is cooperating in such a clear and brutal way, without any fears, with a terror group like Hamas,” Aharon said.

It’s Clear – They Knew

If there was ever a clear example of how corrupt UNRWA is, this is it. It is a bald faced lie to say they didn’t know it was there and that they weren’t helping Hamas. An Israeli government agency weighs in on this in another article from The Times Of Israel:

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, known by its acronym COGAT, hits back at UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini after he claimed the agency “did not know” of a Hamas top secret data center discovered under the Gaza headquarters of the UN body.

“Oh, you knew,” tweets COGAT, in response to Lazzarini’s long post denying any knowledge of the tunnel or the subterranean data center. The UNRWA head claimed that Israel has “not informed UNRWA officially” about the discoveries, and said UN staff left the Gaza headquarters four months ago as Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by the October 7 Hamas killing spree.

The response went on to say this:

Digging a tunnel takes longer than 4 months. We invited senior UN officials to see, and during past meetings with you and other UN officials, we stated Hamas’s use of UNRWA’s headquarters,” COGAT writes.

“You chose to ignore the facts so you can later try and deny them,” it says to Lazzarini.

An Israeli public spokesperson also spoke out:

Israel’s English-language government spokesman Eylon Levy tweets: “They knew, and they didn’t find out from the media. Israeli authorities invited @unrwa leadership to tour the Hamas Server Farm under UNRWA HQ in Gaza City. Lazzarini ignored the invitation.”

If you want a spiritual view of this it is pretty simple: when you make a deal with the devil expect it to come back and haunt you and expect the price you have to pay to be higher than agreed to.