UNRWA praised the smuggling of cement into Gaza in 2011. What did they know then?

From a UNRWA press release, December 7, 2011:

The UNRWA report finds a “surge in private employment” as a result of “expanded importation of much-needed building materials and other productive inputs”.

UN estimates show that for the month of September, 46,500 tonnes of aggregate came through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza, whereas 90,000 tonnes came through the tunnels; 9,195 tonnes of cement came through Kerem Shalom, while there were 90,000 tonnes of cement through the tunnels, and 1,418 tonnes of steel bars came through Kerem Shalom, whereas 15,000 tonnes came through the tunnels.

“Despite the easing of restrictions on the Israeli-imposed blockade, tight controls of the crossings from Israel into Gaza are a significant factor behind the growth in the tunnel economy,” said UNRWA spokesman, Chris Gunness. “The facts speak for themselves. Construction jobs grew by more than 9,400, increasing by 3.5 times relative to first half 2010. This accounted for 27.7 per cent of all job growth in the year-on-year period. This is still significantly lower than pre-blockade levels. But despite significant gains, broad unemployment in Gaza, at nearly 33 per cent, remains among the most severe in the world. Under such circumstances, the reversal of deepening poverty and aid dependency among ordinary people in Gaza is unlikely.”

OK, you might be thinking, UNRWA surely didn't know that the cement it was praising was being used for building terror tunnels, right?

But as Israel Behind the News reported last year, UNRWA's administrators union is dominated by - Hamas:

[T]he "administrators union" in UNRWA fell into the hands of Hamas in the union elections which were held in UNRWA facilities in 1999, 2003, 2006, 2009 and later again in 2012.

In other words, Hamas controls funds and supplies that are dispatched to UNRWA in Gaza.

So, as I had reported recently, lots of the cement that was supposedly earmarked for UNRWA projects was being diverted to Hamas tunnels - and now we see that in all probability, some UNRWA officials were complicit with this crime.

(h/t Canadian Otter)