Logo of the UNRWA. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – If reports that rockets were discovered inside a United Nations-run school in Gaza and that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) returned the rockets to local Hamas authorities are not alarming enough, The Associated Press now indicates that more rockets were discovered at another school, and that the U.N. has admitted that it does not actually know what happened to the returned rockets.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that he was “alarmed” to hear that the rockets “have gone missing.”

“Those responsible (for placing rockets at the schools) are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children,” a statement from the U.N. also said.

The terrorist group Hamas, which has been firing thousands of rockets into Israel (not only in the past few weeks, but for years), controls Gaza. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union, and Israel.

“The United Nations is taking concerted action to increase its vigilance in preventing such episodes from happening again,” the U.N. statement said.

Strangely, however, outrage over these incidents around the world seems to be muted.

If it wants, the world can forever argue about which side is to blame for the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, and for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as whole.

However, everyone should be outraged that a U.N. agency committed to helping the citizens of Gaza in a time of crisis is perpetuating the same people’s misery by storing rockets, and then either returning rockets directly to Hamas or losing track of the rockets, which makes the rockets just as likely to end up in the hands of Hamas. Hamas is likely to fire these same rockets at Israel, which would invite more military action from Israel against Gaza.

The U.N., which is committed to helping people, should not be taking sides in any conflict or putting in danger the lives of the people it seeks to protect, otherwise the agency loses all legitimacy or trustworthiness when it comes to its involvement in any current or future world conflict.