UNRWA terminates employees over alleged involvement in Hamas attacks after US pauses funding
UPDATE: 4 p.m. ET Jan. 29: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Sunday the U.N. Relief and Works Agency terminated nine of the 12 staffers accused of involvement in Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack. One is dead, and the identities of two others need to be clarified. Additionally, at least nine countries have halted funding to UNRWA over the allegations.
Original article:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has terminated the contracts of several employees after a dozen were accused of alleged involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel and launched an investigation into their role.
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Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, made the announcement after the U.S., Canada and Australia paused additional funding for UNRWA pending the investigation’s outcome.
In a statement Friday, Lazzarini emphasized that any UNRWA employee involved in acts of terror would face criminal prosecution. “UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages and their safe return to their families,” Lazzarini said.
UNRWA, established in 1949, operates in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The U.S.-funded agency’s services purportedly include education, health care, relief, social services and emergency assistance.
“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the agency has been providing since the war began,” Lazzarini said. “Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world.”
Simultaneously, the U.S. State Department expressed deep concern over these allegations.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and said the Biden administration supports a thorough investigation. In a statement, the State Department highlighted UNRWA’s role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians and stressed the need for accountability and appropriate corrective measures.
“There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7,” the State Department said.
In December, The Christian Post reported that an accusation had been levied against a UNRWA employee who was allegedly holding a Hamas hostage, according to a report by Israeli Channel 13’s Almog Boker.
The claim, deemed “unsubstantiated” by UNRWA at the time, emerged amid a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas. Over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including 31 Americans, were killed by Hamas terrorists. Some 240 others were taken captive. Boker noted that Hamas has a history of utilizing the civilian population to carry out its terrorist activities.
UNRWA requested more information from the journalist who reported the hostage claim, stressing the importance of credible information to support such serious allegations. UNRWA also addressed these claims on social media, highlighting the long-standing documentation of accusations against the agency.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education reported at the time that 13 UNRWA staffers had celebrated the Oct. 7 attacks on social media. This report also mentioned antisemitic content in UNRWA school textbooks, a claim UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma labeled “unsubstantiated.”
“UNRWA rejects claims linking its schools to the abhorrent 7 October attacks in Israel — attacks that UNRWA has condemned in the strongest terms,” Touma said at the time. “As in the past, these allegations are yet another attempt to sensationalize and extrapolate, based on flawed methodology and flimsy evidence.”
