Three Dead as Israel Attacks Rafah, And a Hamas Tunnel Discovered Beneath the UN Gaza Headquarters: Key Points

The Israeli military claims to have found a tunnel shaft beneath a UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) school, during the ongoing conflict with Hamas terrorists. At least 31 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombings on Saturday in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza.

Israel has moved more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants toward the Egyptian border with its military offensive. Many are staying in overcrowded UN-run shelters or improvised tent camps since they are unable to flee the small land that is home to the Palestinians. On October 7, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, during which militants killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped roughly 250 more. This marked the start of the war. Though more than 130 hostages are currently being held by Hamas, some 30 of them are thought to be dead.

Israel-Hamas Conflict

1. According to the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces), Israeli soldiers have found a network of tunnels hundreds of metres (yards) long that runs partially beneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters. They describe this as fresh proof of Hamas’s abuse of the primary Palestinian assistance organisation. During a crisis for UNRWA—which has initiated an internal investigation and seen a number of donor countries suspend financing amid charges last month by Israel that some of its staff doubled as Hamas operatives—army engineers walked reporters from foreign news outlets through the tunnels. Among the northern areas that Israeli forces and tanks overran early in the four-month-old battle against the ruling Islamist organisation Hamas is Gaza City, home to UNRWA Headquarters. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate south.

2. A third of the Palestinian casualties were children. On Saturday, Israel launched an attack on the southern Gaza City of Rafah, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed to have directed the military to organise the hundreds of thousands of residents’ evacuation in anticipation of a ground assault. 28 people were killed by three airstrikes on residences in the Rafah area overnight into Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

3. A Palestinian leader linked to Hamas was the target of an Israeli hit on Saturday, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) inside Lebanon’s southern border, but he survived, according to four security sources cited by news agency Reuters. Three more were slain, one of them a member of the potent Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas that receives support from Iran. Compared to the typical firefights between Hezbollah and Israel’s military, which have mainly taken place around the border, Saturday’s strike penetrated far deeper into Lebanese territory.

4. During a demonstration in Tel Aviv tonight demanding the release of the hostages and fresh elections, at least seven protestors were taken into custody. The Times of Israel said that some demonstrators were arrested after blocking a section of the Ayalon Highway that led south. For a while, the demonstrators stopped the southern lane of the roadway and lit bonfires.

These discoveries were made inside of @UNRWA buildings:

Based on information provided by ISA, the forces found a tunnel shaft close to a UNRWA school that led to an underground terrorist tunnel under the organization’s main headquarters. The forces discovered electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel that was connected to UNRWA’s headquarters, indicating that electricity was being supplied by the gasoline supplied by humanitarian aid to the tunnel.

The soldiers had seized multiple blast doors and various intelligence assets within this 700-meter-long tunnel that was 18 metres deep. Documents and intelligence revealed the offices were used by militants affiliated with Hamas. Numerous firearms, including bombs, grenades, ammunition, and rifles, were found concealed in the building’s offices.

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Khusbu JenaNews Writer

Khusbu Jena, equipped with a sturdy educational background in Media Studies, embarks on a journey to traverse the expansive dimensions of media, aiming to intertwine it with international affairs. Their academic pursuits have endowed them with a deep comprehension of the dynamic media landscape, spanning from traditional journalism to digital platforms, as well as encompassing area studies and geopolitics. Demonstrating an inherent curiosity about diverse workspaces, Khusbu exudes an eagerness for continuous learning and exploration.

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