President Biden faced mounting calls Sunday to permanently end all U.S. funding for the embattled United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, following the discovery of what the Israeli military said was a Hamas data center beneath the group’s headquarters in Gaza City.
The bombshell revelations from the Israeli Defense Forces on Saturday were the latest blow to the U.N.’s Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, which was already under intense fire after Israeli claims that at least 12 of the agency’s staffers took part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. The U.S. suspended its funding to UNRWA in the wake of those discoveries.
But the information made public by the Israeli military on Saturday is potentially even more damning. In social media posts, the IDF said it discovered a tunnel beneath an UNRWA school that led “to an underground terrorist tunnel beneath UNRWA’s main headquarters.”
“The forces found electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel connected to UNRWA’s main HQ, suggesting it was supplying the tunnel with electricity — generated by the fuel provided through humanitarian aid,” the IDF said.
The tunnel “contained multiple blast doors and various intelligence assets seized by the forces,” the IDF said. “Intelligence and documents found confirmed the offices’ use by Hamas terrorists. Large quantities of weapons, including rifles, ammunition, grenades and explosives, were uncovered hidden in the building’s offices.”
UNRWA officials denied any knowledge of the tunnel, data center or other alleged Hamas infrastructure. Agency officials said they haven’t operated out of the Gaza facility for months.
“We have not used that compound since we left it [last October] nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there,” the agency’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a social media post. “We are therefore unable to confirm or otherwise comment on these reports.”
Such explanations will do little to quell the firestorm in Washington. Key Republicans said the latest discoveries by the IDF should provide all the proof Mr. Biden needs to permanently sever the American relationship with the agency.
“The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has been knowingly providing material support for Hamas terrorists who committed unspeakable atrocities against over a thousand Israelis and dozens of Americans. That support included salaries and facilities,” Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, said in a statement. “Foreigners who knowingly funded UNRWA should be subject to sanctions and Americans who knowingly fund-raised for them should be investigated for criminal material support.”
Other Republicans questioned the agency’s position that it knew nothing about what was happening beneath its Gaza headquarters.
“There is no way that UNRWA did not know about these Hamas tunnels, and they must be held accountable for their role in aiding Hamas in carrying out the barbaric Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican, said in a statement. “The Biden Administration must permanently cut off all U.S. funding to UNRWA, revoke UNRWA’s tax exempt status, and immediately conduct rigorous oversight of all U.S. money being sent to the UN.”
Former President Donald Trump ended U.S. funding for UNRWA in 2018. Mr. Biden restored that funding in January 2021, and the U.S. has subsequently given more than $1 billion to the agency.
The administration suspended funding for UNRWA last month.
Top administration officials have said the work done by UNRWA in Gaza is vital, but they acknowledged the major questions swirling around the agency.
“It’s imperative that — as the UN has said it’s doing — that there be a thorough investigation, that there be clear accountability, and that there be clear measures put in place to make sure that this can’t happen again, that personnel working for it were not in any way involved in terrorism or the events of Oct. 7,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference in Israel last week.
“We know that the work that UNRWA performs, the functions that it performs, have to be preserved because so many lives are depending on it,” Mr. Blinken said.
Congressional Republicans have introduced legislation that would permanently end all U.S. funding to UNRWA.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.