The terror group Hamas announced on Wednesday that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Gaza station chief would be barred from the Gaza strip.
Matthias Schmale was ordered by his bosses to return to Jerusalem after he admitted in a May 22 interview with Israel’s Channel 12 News that he “would not dispute” the Israel claim that their “bombardments were very precise.”
Schmale also said that “there is no acute or serious shortage of medical supplies, food, or water” in Gaza.
Well, there you have it: the Gaza head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian humanitarian matters, says he “would not dispute” Israel’s claim that its airstrikes were “very precise,” noting that “they didn’t hit, with some exceptions, civilian targets.” pic.twitter.com/HFTPouHnH5
— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) May 25, 2021
The comments outraged Hamas, which called Schmale “a major reason for the suffering of thousands of Palestinian refugees and UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip,” the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. The UNRWA deputy station chief, David de Bold, was also declared persona non grata.
Schmale’s comments were also protested by Gazans, who vowed not to let him return to the territory, BBC Middle East correspondent Sebastian Usher reported.
Protesters vow not to let UNRWA chief in #Gaza Matthias Schmale back after he reportedly left-there’ve been protests against him after he spoke of “precision” of #Israel strikes-tho he said there was “unacceptable and unbearable loss of life on the civilian side” -he apologised pic.twitter.com/bX2roFhzdW
— sebastian usher (@sebusher) June 2, 2021
In response to thousands of rocket attacks, the Israel Defense Forces struck tunnels and headquarters used by Hamas and other terrorist groups. At least 232 Palestinians were killed, including at least 150 Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists, according to the Jerusalem Post. (RELATED: Israel Assassinates Top Hamas Commander, Islamist Soldiers In Targeted Airstrikes: Report)
Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, claimed in an interview with Vice News that “Israel intentionally bombs and kills our children and women.”
Hamas is known for shooting rockets out of civilian structures, which violates the laws of war.