Last week the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that it had found rockets in a (currently unused) UNRWA school in Gaza. On Tuesday the possibility that this was a propaganda move by jihadists—to use the school as a shield and/or bait Israelis into attacking it—seems to have gotten stronger, as UNRWA found rockets in a school again. From the group’s statement:
As soon as the rockets were discovered, UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets. The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons.
UNRWA strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.
UNRWA says it gave the first group of rockets it discovered to representives of Palestine’s unity government, of which it says Hamas—which has been launching rockets toward Israel for weeks—is no longer a member. (It’s not entirely clear that this is the case.) What will be done with the rockets discovered Tuesday is unknown.
