Israelis Call for UNRWA Chief to Resign

.@UNLazzarini it’s not that you didn’t know, it’s that you didn’t WANT to know. We exposed terror tunnels under UNRWA schools and supplied evidence that Hamas’ exploits UNRWA. We implored you to carry out a comprehensive search of all UNRWA facilities in Gaza. But not only did… https://t.co/bJsD66OwoO

— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) February 10, 2024

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, claims that he had “no idea” that Hamas had built a vast facility, a data center, directly underneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters. His claim of ignorance has been greeted with scorn, and not just by Israelis. Israeli diplomatic leaders, including Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, have called for Lazzarini to resign. More on Lazzarini’s claim of ignorance, and the response to it, can be found here: “UNRWA chief: We didn’t know what was under our Gaza headquarters,” Jerusalem Post, February 11, 2024:

“UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday. 

Lazzarini’s statement came in response to the IDF discovery indicating that a Hamas tunnel, powered by UNRWA electric infrastructure, ran underneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters.

During the IDF raid on the UNRWA headquarters itself, the IDF reported finding guns, ammunition, grenades, and other explosives inside the offices of the building.

The UNRWA chief stated that the UN organization had been notified of the reports of a tunnel under the body’s Gaza headquarters.

“UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as bombardment intensified in the area,” Lazzarini wrote. “We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there….

Yes, the UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza on October 12. So what? Is he implying that he could not possibly have known about the Hamas data center because it was only brought to light by the IDF after his staff had left the area? But Lazzarini has been the head of UNRWA since 2020; he’s had three years to find out about the underground data center. And even before Lazzarini took over, he would likely have known about the vast network of tunnels Hamas had built under Gaza. Many things were unknown, of course, about those tunnels and underground facilities like the data center under UNRWA headquarters. The Israelis did not know, for example, the enormous extent of those tunnels, which collectively are anywhere between 350 and 450 miles in length. Nor did the Israelis know that those tunnels were built deep underground, at an average depth of 50 meters. The data center was much closer to the surface — it was built only 18 meters underground. Nor did the IDF know exactly how many entrances there were that provided access to the tunnel network; so far the IDF has unearthed 5,700 of those tunnel entrances. And the IDF was surprised to discover the size of many of those tunnels, that turned out to be both wide and tall enough so that a small truck could drive through them without difficulty.

But even if Lazzarini did not know the length, the depth, and the size of those tunnels, it is impossible for him to have been ignorant of the fact that Hamas had placed its weapons and operatives in or near UNRWA schools, offices, and hospitals all over Gaza, both above and underground. He would have known, either directly, or from UNRWA employees who had served at the Gaza headquarters for decades, about the heavy machinery that had been, or possibly still was being, used during his tenure, to expand those tunnels under the UNRWA headquarters. Lazzarini, or others who worked at the Gaza headquarters before his time, would have seen — who could miss them? — the trucks carrying away tons of dirt that had been excavated in order to build those tunnels, which debouched into a wide space under UNRWA headquarters. That is where the Hamas data center was built, with the expectation that the IDF would be leery of attacking in the vicinity of UNRWA headquarters. He, or others who were at UNRWA headquarters before he arrived, would have seen the trucks that brought tons of building materials to tunnel entrances, from where they would then be delivered underground, allowing Hamas to construct the data center.

Lazzarini had to have known that some Hamas operation was being conducted in the tunnels below headquarters. The data center was on the same electrical grid as UNRWA’s headquarters; he would have seen the figures on electricity usage and understood that there was some other group — it could only have been Hamas — using electricity that was being diverted from UNRWA’s supply.

“The exposure of UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters’ deep involvement with Hamas, including its use for terror activities and as an access point to terror tunnels, requires immediate action,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “Commissioner-General Lazzarini’s claim of unawareness is not only absurd but also an affront to common sense. His prompt resignation is imperative.”

Also in response to Lazzarini’s denial of knowledge of Hamas infrastructure beneath Gaza’s UNRWA headquarters, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote on X, “Oh, you knew. 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. You chose to ignore the facts so you can later try and deny them.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called on Lazzarini to “Take responsibility and resign today! 

“It’s not that you didn’t know, it’s that you didn’t WANT to know. We exposed terror tunnels under UNRWA schools and supplied evidence that Hamas’s exploits UNRWA. We implored you to carry out a comprehensive search of all UNRWA facilities in Gaza. But not only did you refuse, you chose to stick your head in the sand.”…

Of course Lazzarini should resign. He should have resigned the minute that Israel made public that twelve UNRWA staffers had participated in the October 7 atrocities. Or if not then, then as soon as Israel made public the information about 3,000 UNRWA teachers who on their Telegram channel praised and celebrated Hamas’ for what its operatives carried out on October 7. Or if not then, Lazzarini ought to have resigned after the Israelis brought forth evidence that 12,000 staff members of UNRWA have links to terror groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Lazzarini should resign, but he won’t. He’ll try to brazen it out. And only if those sixteen donor countries that have now suspended payments to UNRWA make his departure one of the conditions precedent to their resuming payments, will he be pried loose from his exceedingly well-paid and undeserved post.