‘How many more schools will have to be abused by Hamas missile squads before the international community will intervene?’ ...
For the second time in
less than a week, rockets have been found in a school in Gaza operated by the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the body said.
“Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip,” the organization said in a statement issued Tuesday. “As soon as the rockets were discovered, UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets. The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons.”
As it did the last time around when missiles were found in a school it operates, UNRWA said it “strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.” [I wonder who those groups might be? - SL]
UNRWA, the UN agency charged with overseeing humanitarian efforts in
Gaza, said it immediately “informed the relevant parties and is pursuing all
possible measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the
safety and security of the school.” [WHO are the "relevant parties? And WHO removed the objects? - SL] The organization again pledged to launch a
“comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.”
Israeli officials reacted furiously to the discovery. “How many more schools will have to be abused by Hamas missile squads before the international community will intervene,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel. “How many times can it turn its head the other way and pretend that it just doesn’t see?”
Last Wednesday, UNRWA
found some 20 rockets in a school under its auspices, also during a
standard inspection. A spokesperson for UNRWA said the organization gave the
rockets to “local authorities,” which answer to the Hamas-backed unity
government led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas.
“According to longstanding UN practice in UN humanitarian operations worldwide, incidents involving unexploded ordnance that could endanger beneficiaries and staff are referred to the local authorities,” UNRWA’s director of advocacy and strategic communications, Christopher Gunness, told The Times of Israel Sunday.[...so the UN handed rockets to Hamas - to attack Israeli civilians.]
In Jerusalem, such assertions are rejected, even ridiculed, with
officials charging that the weaponry
was returned to Hamas. “The rockets were passed on to the government
authorities in Gaza, which is Hamas. In other words, UNRWA handed to Hamas
rockets that could well be shot at Israel,” a senior Israeli official told The
Times of Israel.
Another senior official pointed out that UNRWA has a history of letting
Hamas use its facilities for its terrorist activities. “Time and again, over
the years, UNRWA has been abused by gunmen from different terrorist factions
who are using UN facilities to stockpile weapons, to fire rockets from, to
steal UNRWA humanitarian equipment and to cause damage and fire in UNRWA’s
hangars,” a senior Foreign Ministry official told The Times of Israel.
“Against all evidence, UNRWA refuses to acknowledge reality and
pathetically attempts to ingratiate itself with Hamas, pretending that nothing
serious has happened,” the senior official said. “This is a classic case of
beaten-wife syndrome, which we have been witnessing for years from UNRWA. The
people of Gaza, and indeed taxpayers from countries who contribute to UNRWA’s
budget — including Israel — deserve better.”
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