IDF Discovers Hamas, Islamic Jihad Command Center at UNRWA HQ

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) discovered a command center this week used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists within the Gaza City headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Israel has long insisted that UNRWA supports terrorism in general, and maintains that several UNRWA employees participated directly in the October 7 terror attack. Terrorists have repeatedly used UNRWA facilities to launch attacks and store weapons.

The IDF said in a statement:

Following intelligence indicating that Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists and infrastructure were embedded inside the UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza City, IDF troops began a counterterrorism operation in the area earlier this week. At the start of the operation, the IDF opened a defined corridor to enable civilians to evacuate from the area.

During the operation, the Commando Brigade Combat Team under the command of the 99th Division conducted a targeted raid on a Hamas combat complex embedded inside a compound previously used by UNRWA. With the guidance of the Intelligence Directorate (J2), Maglan and Egoz special forces raided the compound and apprehended terrorists who tried to escape from the area. 

During the activity, the troops engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorist cells that had fortified themselves inside the UNRWA compound and located parts for assembling a UAV, war rooms used for surveillance operations and large quantities of weapons, including tactical drones, rockets, machine guns, mortars, explosives and grenades.

Next to the terror compound raided by the troops, the IDF previously exposed and operated against an underground tunnel route and significant asset of Hamas’ military intelligence that passed under the building that served as UNRWA’s Headquarters in the Gaza Strip. 

In additional scans carried out by the troops during the current operations in the area, the troops located an underground laboratory for the manufacturing of explosives and weapons inside a university building.

In February, the IDF revealed that it had found a Hamas command center underneath Shifa Hospital. Several countries suspended funding for UNRWA after reports emerged of UNRWA participating in the October 7 attack; but several have since restored it. Funding from the U.S. for UNRWA remains on hold; President Joe Biden initially restored $700 million in funding to UNRWA that had been cut by President Donald Trump out of terror concerns.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.