Israel-Palestine Mega Fact Check!

In August 2021, for instance, Israeli airstrikes hit two UNRWA schools in the Zeitoun (al-Zaytun) neighborhood. One of the impact craters appeared to reveal an underground tunnel beneath it. Officials closed the area off and prevented UN inspectors from entering.

UNRWA confirmed in December 2024 that some of its facilities have been misused in the past by both sides: “Since the mid-2000s, during conflicts in Gaza, there have been instances when armed actors from both sides have violated the neutrality of UNRWA sites, which are protected by international law. They have, for example, entered UNRWA buildings or used them for military purposes. UNRWA has systematically condemned such violations of UN premises (example here). Every time that UNRWA has discovered that the neutrality of its facilities has been compromised by third parties, including being used by armed groups in Gaza to cache munitions, it has protested to de facto authorities in Gaza [and] immediately informs the Palestinian Authority and Israel as well as its main donors [and reports these to] the UN General Assembly.”

UNRWA also proactively verifies its facilities every three months for such violations: “The Agency dedicates significant resources to regularly assess its facilities, including to ensure neutrality. This means not only that there is no misuse of its facilities, but also ensuring that installations are clearly marked as UN facilities, that signs about them being weapons-free areas are present at entrances, and that the internal and external walls are free of any messaging that is political or in any way places the neutrality of the installation into question. This is done via quarterly assessments by specially trained staff of all of UNRWA’s almost 1,000 facilities across its five fields of operation”.