Israeli Defense Forces discovered vests belonging to elite Nukhba forces of the Hamas terror group stashed inside bags belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The vests were discovered during a raid on a Gaza medical clinic over the weekend. The IDF also found weapons hidden in an adjacent building.

“IDF troops, directed by intelligence, conducted a targeted raid on an area in Gaza City from which shots were fired at the troops over the last few days. During the activity, the troops located Nukhba military vests that were concealed by Hamas in UNRWA bags in a medical clinic. In an adjacent building, the troops located RPGs, AK-47s, and ammunition,” the IDF said in a statement.

Hamas weapons found in Khan Younis, southern Gaza (Photo: IDF)

 

The Nukhba force played a leading role in the unprecedented Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis during its surprise invasion of southern Israel border communities on Oct. 7.

The UNRWA for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is officially tasked with providing education and health care to the residents of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The UN organization claims it is a non-political agency focusing on humanitarian work. However, Israeli and international critics have argued for years that the controversial UN agency has close ties to the terror organization Hamas. In addition, UNRWA-run schools have played a central role in spreading incitement and hatred against Israel and the Jewish people.

In December, Israeli Channel 13 journalist Almog Boker reported that a former Israeli hostage had testified that a UNRWA teacher had kept him imprisoned during his captivity in the Gaza Strip.

“’Uninvolved,’ they say, right? Well, read this story carefully. One of the abductees, held for nearly 50 days in an attic, reveals he was held by a UNRWA teacher – a father of ten children. This teacher locked the victim away, barely provided food, and neglected medical needs,” Boker wrote.

On Oct. 7, as the Hamas terror attack on civilians in Israel unfolded, UNRWA employees in Gaza celebrated.

UN Watch, the Geneva-based NGO that monitors the performance of the United Nations wrote in a November report:

“As soon as news of the horrific slaughter broke, which was live streamed on social media by some of the terrorists, United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff immediately celebrated and justified it on Facebook… UNRWA has been a breeding ground for Palestinian terrorists from its early days… The perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered… almost all were raised and educated in UNRWA schools… Likewise, Mohamed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ Al Qassem Brigades who masterminded the October 7th massacre, was also educated in an UNRWA school.”

Israel hopes to have UNRWA removed from the Gaza Strip once the war is over, according to a Times of Israel report last week.