Nine employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are suspected of possibly having participated in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to a UN investigation.
The probe into activities at the agency, which employs some 13,000 people in Gaza, was launched in January following accusations from Israel that UNRWA workers had taken part in the massacre that left 1,200 people dead and around 250 more captured. Despite claiming that some UNRWA staffers had participated “in the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” as per IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani, West Jerusalem has reportedly not provided any evidence to prove their involvement.
According to a statement by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Monday, investigators of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) looked into a total of 19 employees who had been accused of participating in the attack. In ten of the cases, no evidence was found to support Israel’s accusations. However, suspicions emerged about nine workers.
“The evidence, if authenticated and corroborated, could indicate that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023,” Lazzarini said, noting that the individuals in question can no longer work for the agency and that their contracts have been terminated.
“UNRWA is committed to continue upholding the fundamental principles and values of the United Nations, including the humanitarian principle of neutrality, and to ensure that all its staff abide by the Agency’s policy on outside and political activities,” the commissioner-general said, reiterating that UNRWA strongly condemns the October 7 attack “in the strongest possible terms.”
In April, another independent UN committee investigation into Israel’s accusations, led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said that it was unable to find any proof of UNRWA staffers aiding Hamas in the attack, and demanded that the Jewish State provide more evidence to support its claims.
Despite the lack of evidence, a number of donor nations initially withdrew funding from UNRWA following Israel’s accusations. Of the 18 countries that suspended donations, the majority have since resumed their support. Those who have not include the US, UK and Germany.