UN Gaza leaders given submachine guns for protection ‘against Hamas’
The defense establishment has taken the unusual step of granting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency approval to take four weapons into Gaza. The weapons, submachine guns, are to serve the security detail guarding the heads of the agency in Gaza.
The request to bring in the weapons was made three years ago and approved last week.
The director of UNRWA’s activities in Gaza, John Ging, said on his website that his life is in constant danger and he needs more suitable protection than the handguns his bodyguards had been carrying.
The UN body asked for German Heckler and Koch submachine guns for UNRWA’s commissioner general, Filippo Grandi, and for Ging.
The organization told Israeli security officials that its personnel are being threatened by Hamas representatives. UNRWA operates 221 schools in Gaza and dozens of medical centers, employment centers and women’s help centers.