Ban says he is ‘alarmed’ that rockets are missing

The UN secretary-general on Wednesday said he is “alarmed” to hear that rockets found placed in a UN-run school in Gaza “have gone missing,” and he demanded a full review of such incidents.

A statement by the spokesman for Ban Ki-moon expressed the UN chief’s “outrage and regret” at the placement of weapons at a site run by the global organization.

“Those responsible are turning schools into potential military targets, and endangering the lives of innocent children,” UN staff and anyone seeking shelter, the statement said.

The statement demanded that militant groups stop such actions and be held accountable for endangering civilians.

It gave no details on the number or kind of rockets or the location of the school, which is run by the UN refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.

A week ago, UNRWA said that during a routine check it discovered about 20 rockets hidden in one of its vacant Gaza schools and called on militants to respect the “sanctity and integrity” of UN property. It said the incident was “the first of its kind in Gaza.”

But Tuesday, UNRWA confirmed that it had found a second major cache of rockets hidden in one of the organization’s schools.

The UN statement said Ban has asked for the immediate development of a plan to safely handle any weapons found on UN premises, and he told the UN Mine Action Service to immediately send people to deal with the situation of the missing rockets.

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

The statement gave no details on how the rockets went missing. The UN did not immediately return a request for further comment.

UNRWA tweeted Monday that more than 83,000 people were now taking refuge in its schools in Gaza, and “numbers are growing.”

— AP