UN says UNRWA has fired nine employees over involvement in Hamas attack on 7th October
The United Nations has announced that nine employees of the controversial UN agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), have been fired over alleged involvement in the Hamas terror attack in Israel on 7th October 2023.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said that “the evidence was sufficient” regarding the nine individuals “to conclude that they may have been involved” in the 7th October attacks.
The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services commissioned an investigation into nineteen UNRWA employees who were allegedly involved in the massacre, when Hamas terrorists and other Gazan terror groups rampaged across southern Israel, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting some 250 hostages.
The UN investigation connected nine employees to the terrorist attacks. In nine other cases, the agency found the evidence to be “insufficient” to “support” the employee’s involvement.
All nine dismissed staff members were understood to be men.
Mr Haq said that “any participation in the attacks” was a “tremendous betrayal of the sort of work that we are supposed to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian people”.
In March, Israel claimed that 450 of UNRWA’s 14,000 personnel in Gaza were members of terrorist groups. Many countries, including the UK, paused funding to UNRWA amid allegations that the agency aided Hamas terrorists.
UNRWA employs 30,000 staff members across the Middle East.
Israel has been aware for several years that Hamas uses UNRWA facilities in Gaza – including its schools – to store weapons, and as bases to run terrorist operations against Israel. The Israeli military claims that in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Hamas terrorists were found in UNRWA’s central logistics compound alongside UN vehicles. A group of 3,000 teachers working in Gaza for UNRWA even praised the 7th October Hamas attack. UNRWA-operated schools in Gaza have also been accused of teaching children antisemitism and hatred of Israel.
In June, more than 100 Israeli victims of the 7th October terrorist attacks sued UNRWA, alleging that the agency “knowingly provided material support to Hamas in Gaza.”
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