JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli army released drone footage showing armed men standing next to U.N. marked vehicles at a United Nations compound in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and called on the U.N.
to investigate.
An IDF statement said that on Saturday, troops had identified fighters in the central logistics compound of the U.N. Palestinian relief agency UNRWA east of Rafah, where the Israli military has been operating for more than a week.
An UNRWA spokesperson said the agency was examining the footage and would share information once it became available.
Reuters located the footage by matching nearby buildings, poles, railings, tanks on a roof and greenery to satellite and file images, but was not able to verify the date it was filmed or the identity of the armed men.
UNRWA has been the target of fierce criticism by Israel, which accuses the agency of cooperating with the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza and has called for it to be disbanded.
The agency, set up to help Palestinian refugees displaced during the war that broke out around the time of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, strongly denies the accusations.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the army had forwarded the footage to “senior members of the international community” and called on the U.N.
to investigate the connection between UNRWA logistics centres and what he described as “Hamas operatives” near their vehicles.
Israeli criticism of UNRWA has intensified at a time of growing international pressure on Israel to step up relief supplies into Gaza to ease a humanitarian crisis that threatens severe hunger to hundreds of thousands displaced by the war.
Israel says it is ready to allow unlimited humanitarian supplies into Gaza and blames U.N.
relief agencies and other international bodies for failing to distribute the aid properly.
U.N. relief agencies say aid distribution in Gaza has been severely curtailed by fighting and have accused Israel of restricting access to the enclave despite famine warnings.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
