CV NEWS FEED // Following a seven-month-long investigation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has quietly admitted that some of its staff “may have been” Hamas operatives who participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillippe Lazzarini wrote in an Aug. 5 statement that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) discovered nine cases where “the evidence—if authenticated and corroborated—could indicate that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the attacks on 7 October.”
Though Lazzarini does not state their involvement definitively, the UN Commissioner-General revealed that “the contracts of these staff members will be terminated in the interest of the Agency,” and that “they cannot work for UNRWA.”
The OIOS investigated 10 additional cases. In one of these, Lazzarini claims investigators found no evidence to support allegations of the employee’s involvement. The employee has since rejoined the UNRWA team.
In the nine other cases, the OIOS closed its investigation after the evidence obtained “was insufficient to support the staff members’ involvement.” It is not clear whether these individuals rejoined the agency.
“UNRWA is committed to continue upholding the fundamental principles and values of the United Nations,” Lazzarini stated, “including the humanitarian principle of neutrality, and to ensure that all its staff abide by the Agency’s policy on outside and political activities.”
Israel has long claimed that “hundreds” of the UNRWA’s majority-Palestinian employees “have ties to terror groups in Gaza,” according to the Times of Israel, though an April UNRWA review concluded that Israel has not provided enough evidence to support the claim.
The UN agency did, however, fire at least 12 employees back in January after Israel provided damning evidence that some of its workers had even used the organization’s vehicles during the October 7 attacks.
According to a Jan. 29 Reuters report, the US, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland were among countries that suspended funding to UNRWA after the accusations came to light.
Ayelet Samerano, a woman whose son was kidnapped and murdered by a UNRWA worker, shared her story at a press conference during the International Summit for a Future Beyond UNRWA.
In her address, she slammed Lazzarrini, who had been invited to speak during the event as a guest of honor, declaring it was “wrong” for him to have been invited to speak on account of UNRWA’s involvement on Oct. 7.
“UNRWA is Hamas and Hamas is UNRWA—they are one and the same,” she said in her statement, which further denounced the UN as a whole for “turning a blind eye” to “massive use of UNRWA infrastructures by Hamas in favor of gaining terror-tactical advantages.”
“I’m not a politician nor an international lawyer that can answer any of the legal questions raised following the tragedy of October 7th,” she continued, “I’m just a mother, a mother who lost the most precious thing in the world – my beloved son. But I know what is right.”
