Israel repeatedly claimed that Hamas is exploiting mosques, schools, hospitals & private homes for stockpiling weaponry.

The relief agency UNRWA, condemned the storing of rockets, which arose during a routine inspection at a Gaza school.

By i24news

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) disclosed Thursday in a statement that they have located a cache of twenty rockets in a school operated by the agency.

Israeli forces bomb a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip. On 17 January 2009, – Photo: Iyad El-Baba / UNRWA

The weapons were found “in the course of the regular inspection of its premise,” the statement detailed, “in a vacant school.” The UNRWA strongly condemned “the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations.” The school in the incident was vacant, the statement said.

UNRWA added that the incident is the first of its kind in Gaza, and that it endangered civilians, including agency staff and put at risk its’ mission.

“Immediately after discovery, the Agency informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school (and) launched a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident,” the statement further read.

According to the website Times of Israel, UNRWA officials have been summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where they apologized to Israel for the incident.

Throughout the current operation in Gaza, Protective Edge, as well as in recent years, Israel repeatedly claimed that Hamas is using schools, hospitals and private homes to stockpile weaponry.

In January 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, the UNRWA stated that 42 people, 41 of them civilians, were killed as the Israeli army hit the agency’s al-Fakhura school building; Israel disputed the numbers, placing the numbers at six Hamas militants and three civilians.

View original i24new publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/37479-140717-unrwa-rockets-cache-found-in-agency-gaza-school