"Hamas' increased exploitation of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facilities in the Gaza Strip has been a cause for growing concern among Israel's upper political echelon, who worry that the UN organization is increasingly becoming a detriment to security for Israel than it is fulfilling its humanitarian mandate.
At a parliamentary session on the issue held Monday, Israeli lawmaker Sharren Haskel (Likud), Chairperson of the Knesset's Lobby for Reform with UNRWA, expounded upon the need to address the potential for Hamas to use UNRWA in order to create a 'strategic threat against Israel.'
'This phenomenon may very well create a strategic threat against Israel,' Haskel told i24NEWS at Monday's Knesset session on the issue.
Several weeks ago, an underground tunnel was discovered beneath a school in the Gaza Strip run by the UNRWA. The revelation, approximately five months after a Hamas terror tunnel was found underneath two other UNRWA schools in the Palestinian enclave, was described by Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon to be 'more proof of the double war crime' in which Hamas' underground tunnel network turned schoolchildren into human shields.
'We need to make sure that humanitarian aid is not being used and abused as a cover up for terror activities,' Haskel told i24NEWS. 'If UNRWA is providing cover for ammunition warehouses in hospitals where they place rockets, it creates major difficulties for us because we obviously cannot target hospitals.'
Haskel also warned of financial aid allotted for UNRWA ending up in the hands of Hamas...
Haskel recommended that UNRWA, at the very least, meld into an international organization such as the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to pave the path towards a better future for UNRWA Palestinian refugees.
'We need to decide whether UNRWA will become a branch of the Palestinian Authority (PA) or part of the UNHCR,' she suggested. 'Palestinian refugees need to be treated like any other refugee and ultimately should be absorbed in the countries where they are located.'..."