UN officials recently discovered a tunnel built by Hamas underneath two schools run by the UN in Gaza. In an address to the Security Council, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the discovery again shows Hamas' true colors:
“Tunnels in heavily populated civilian areas are its signature. Hamas hides military infrastructure in and around apartment buildings, hospitals... Hamas consciously plots and plans to attack civilians, and it uses the cover of civilian building to launch those attacks. It is a sick and cynical strategy.”
The United States remains a strong supporter of Gaza's recovery and reconstruction.
Ambassador Haley noted the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and said the United States remains a strong supporter of Gaza's recovery and reconstruction. But, she emphasized, it is Hamas which has controlled Gaza for the past decade and is squandering its enormous potential.
“Make no mistake, Israel did not cause the problems in Gaza...Ten years ago, every Israeli soldier was withdrawn from Gaza, and for the last 10 years, there has not been a single Israeli settler in Gaza.”
After a decade of Hamas rule, life for the people of Gaza is worse than ever before, said Ambassador Haley:
“Rather than govern, Hamas chooses to devote its resources to building a terrorist arsenal...Rather than allowing help to reach the Palestinian people, Hamas chooses to divert untold amounts of aid to feed it military enterprise.”
Ambassador Haley pointed out how much the Palestinians in Gaza need concrete to rebuild their homes. “But here, in this tunnel,” she said, “we see how Hamas uses the concrete Gaza receives – not to help the people, but to fortify its terrorist infrastructure.”
