As many as 1 in 10 of the United Nation’s local employees in Gaza could be active members of Hamas, according to an Israeli intelligence report, which also reveals details of the activities of 12 UN staffers accused of taking part in or assisting the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terror attack on Israel.
The UN’s relief organization in Gaza fired the workers alleged to be involved on Friday, but since then, several countries — including the U.K. and France — have joined the U.S. in suspending their funding of the UN Relief Works Agency, raising concerns that the 2.2 million people trapped in Gaza could face famine and hardship even worse than they are now enduring.
UNRWA employs roughly 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza and says it will be forced to halt operations within weeks if funding isn’t restored, the AP reported. The revelations raise further questions of how effective UNRWA is in delivering aid to Gaza, and how impartial it is. Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA of allowing Hamas to divert millions in foreign aid to its own militants, and points to the 300-plus miles of underground tunnels built by Hamas with resources that were supposedly supervised by the agency.
An intelligence report reviewed by numerous international media outlets showed six UNRWA workers were part of the wave of Palestinian militants who killed nearly 1,200 people in the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust. Two helped kidnap Israelis, and two others were tracked to sites where scores of Israeli civilians were shot and killed. Others procured weapons and passed out ammunition.
Seven of the 12 were school teachers employed at UN-run schools in Gaza, according to the dossier, which news reports said was compiled from communications intercepts, interrogations, and video footage and documents, some captured from Palestinians who died during the raid on Israel.
The assessment said about 1,200 of the 12,000 Palestinians employed by UNRWA have links to either Hamas or its sister group in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“UNRWA’s problem is not just ‘a few bad apples’ involved in the October 7 massacre,” a senior Israeli government official told the Wall Street Journal. “The institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas’ radical ideology.”
- UN Agency Fires Staffers Accused of Taking Part in Oct. 7 Massacre
- Israel Had ‘No Defense Plan’ for a Hamas Surprise Attack Prior to Oct. 7: Report
- Hamas’ Rape of Women on Oct. 7 Could Amount to Crime Against Humanity, UN Says
- Airstrike Kills Family of Photojournalist Accused of Working with Hamas on Oct. 7: Report
- Israel Calls 6 Palestinian Photojournalists ‘Accomplices’ of Hamas Oct. 7 Attack, Demands ‘Immediate Action’ by News Orgs
- Israel-Hamas War Timeline: The Major Moments From Oct. 7 Terror Attack to Pending Ceasefire
In Brussels, the European Union said it will appoint a panel of independent experts to audit UNRWA and ensure its staff can’t be involved in terrorist activities.
On Sunday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “horrified by these accusations,” but urged donor nations not to cut off aid to UNRWA, which provides much of the food and medical aid that is helping Palestinians survive the war.
New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez said the U.S. must restore aid to UNRWA immediately.
“Cutting off support to UNRWA, the primary source of humanitarian aid to 2 million+ Gazans, is unacceptable. Among an organization of 13,000 UN aid workers, risking the starvation of millions over grave allegations of 12 is indefensible,” the Democrat said in a statement.
Kenneth Roth, the outspoken former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. reaction was overkill.
“UNRWA vowed to prosecute any employee who joined Hamas's Oct. 7 attack,” he wrote on X, while “Israel hasn't moved to prosecute its war criminals or even promised to comply with the ICJ's genocide ruling. Yet governments suspend funds to UNRWA as military aid to Israel continues.”
UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in a statement on Friday that he had immediately terminated the employees named by Israel. “Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.” The New York Times said it had verified the identity of one of the 12 employees, a storeroom manager, whose social media profile lists him as an UNRWA employee and shows him wearing U.N.-branded clothes.
Three UNRWA employees had received text messages ordering them to report to muster points on Oct. 7, and one was told to bring rocket-propelled grenades stored at his home, according to the dossier, the Times said.
A school counselor from Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, is accused in the report of working with his son to abduct a woman from Israel, and a social worker from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, is accused of helping to bring the body of a dead Israeli soldier to Gaza, as well as distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attack, the Times reported.
Since 1949, the agency has cared for the families of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the wars surrounding the creation of the state of Israel.
The organization provides vital aid to more than five million Palestinian refugees scattered across the Middle East, whose future and status have never been resolved despite years of negotiations.
Critics say the agency keeps the Palestinians dependent on international aid, and that its existence keeps Palestinian groups from integrating into the communities where they have lived for decades.
They also say that it has been co-opted by Hamas in Gaza.
A day earlier, Lazzarini, the agency's chief, warned of impending catastrophe.
“It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region,” he said.
“The lives of people in Gaza depend on this support, and so does regional stability,” Mr. Lazzarini said.
The Trump administration suspended funding for UNRWA in 2018, saying the agency’s mission was fundamentally misguided. The Biden administration renewed that funding in 2021 before pausing it last week.