On Monday, July 8 the Israel Defense Forces said that the IDF had begun an operation in Gaza City targeting terrorists and terrorist infrastructure. Among the sites targeted was a UNRWA headquarters. Hamas and other terrorist groups have systematically used UN facilities throughout the war in Gaza. They have hidden in them, they have used tunnels underneath them and their armed terrorists have been present at schools, shelters, warehouses and other UN sites.
It will take time for the full details of how Hamas embedded inside UN institutions comes to light. However, news reports and IDF statements provide a lot of details on recent incidents. It’s important to understand this in context.
Hamas has always exploited international organizations and the UN in Gaza. It does this in many ways. It knows that UN compounds and schools are sites that would normally be protected during war. Therefore it appears Hamas views these areas as a priority, and has tried to use areas near them, or underneath these sites, as command and control nodes.
After October 7 Israel carried out an intense aerial campaign in Gaza, striking Hamas and other terror groups. Israel’s ground operations began on October 27. In February the ground operations were significantly reduced in intensity and the IDF withdrew from most of Gaza by April.
This enabled Hamas to return to many areas. It returned in force to Shifa hospital for instance, sending hundreds of terrorists into the hospital. It also began to operate from within UN schools and sites that had become shelters or even aid distribution warehouses.
At the UNRWA headquarters it appears Hamas even took advantage of the rebuilding of the site. Ynet reported that “intelligence reveals Hamas command and control centers including in UNRWA headquarters rebuilt since December when forces last operated in parts of the city.” The IDF had found a Hamas data computer center underneath a UNRWA headquarters in Rimal in February.
Hamas knows that when it hides at schools that any airstrike on the site can be used for propaganda. For instance on July 6 the BBC reported “at least 16 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a UN-run school in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials have said. Dozens more have been injured.”
The IDF said it had struck a UN-run school in Nuseirat. “Earlier today, based on IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck several terrorists operating in structures located in the area of UNRWA’s Al-Jaouni School in the central Gaza Strip,” the IDF said. Hamas knows that in this case it is likely it may win the propaganda war because most reports will say the IDF struck a “school” rather than a Hamas site.
Examples of Hamas using UN sites
Let’s look at two months of examples of how Hamas has used UN facilities in Gaza and exploited the UN for cover. On July 8 the IDF said it found UNRWA uniforms in searches in northern Gaza’s Shejaia. On July 6 the IDF struck terrorists at the Al-Jaouni school in central Gaza and on July 4 the IDF also said it “struck terrorists who operated from UNRWA schools in the area of Gaza City- the Alqahirah School in Al-Furqan, and the “Musa” School in Daraj Tuffah.”
In June the IDF also found Hamas using numerous UN facilities. On June 30 the IDF said a tunnel was found near an UNRWA school. “As part of operational searches of civilian structures converted into terrorist infrastructure, the soldiers raided a UN school that the terrorists of the Shejaiya Battalion were using as a hideout and a warehouse.”
Two days earlier the IDF said that it targeted “dozens of terrorists who were hiding in UNRWA schools and facilities were eliminated.”
In early June more terrorists were found at UN sites. On June 7 the IDF said that terrorists were identified at a UNRWA school in Nuseirat the previous day. Hamas was operating a compound that the IDF said was “embedded” inside the UNRWA school in Nuseirat.
The Israeli air force also “targeted Hamas terrorists operating from a container inside the grounds of the ‘Asmaa’ UNRWA school in Shati, Gaza.” On June 4 the IDF also said it “struck a Hamas compound embedded inside UNRWA’s “Abu Alhilu” school in Bureij, located in the central Gaza Strip, from which Hamas terrorists operated and planned numerous attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip.”
In May the IDF also found terrorists in UN facilities. In one case on May 30 the IDF said a terrorist fired an anti-tank missile from an UNRWA school in Rafah. “In response to an anti-tank missile fired from an UNRWA school toward IDF troops, the 12th Brigade combat team operated in the school complex.”
On May 22 the Israel air force targeted “a compound located inside an UNRWA school where Hamas terrorists, including an anti-tank missile operative and a Nukhba terrorist, were operating,” the IDF said.
In another incident on May 14 the IDF said that it carried out a precision strike “on a central Hamas war room commanders embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat. The war room was used by terrorist operatives in Hamas’ military wing. The strike was carried out using precise munitions in order to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians.”
This reflects two months of incidents of Hamas hiding in UN facilities in which the IDF has released statements. It clearly represents only the tip of the iceberg. In another incident the IDF revealed footage on July 5 showing Hamas attacking civilians who sought “to enter a warehouse where humanitarian aid was stored.”
In another incident the IDF eliminated Fadi Al-Wadiya, a terrorist in the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. Oddly, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, said he was a colleague. “Al-Wadiya was executed by an Israeli strike. No proof of any wrongdoing on his part has been shared with MSF,” the group claimed.
In many cases the UN does not put out statements about how and why Hamas seems to use so many of its sites in Gaza, including so many schools. Instead what UNRWA said on July 8 in a social media post is that “the level of destruction across the Gaza Strip is unfathomable.
Houses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure have been turned to rubble. Around 190 UNRWA facilities have been impacted. At least 520 displaced people sheltering in our buildings have been killed.” As the war continues into a less intense phase it is worth looking back at the extent of Hamas illegal use of UN facilities, including schools, because it appears to be systematic and on a large scale.
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