In addition to the staffers’ alleged October 7 involvement, the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday alleged in a statement to CNN that UNRWA facilities were used for “terrorist purposes.”Īsked about that claim, the agency told CNN, “We don’t have more information on this at this stage. “Any UN employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Guterres said, adding that an independent review is forthcoming. One other was dead and the identities of two others were still “being clarified.” In a statement Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said nine of the 12 UNRWA staff members at the center of the allegations had been fired. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has said he received “information about the alleged involvement of several employees.” To protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance in Gaza, he decided “to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth,” a statement said.Īny UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror “will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” he added. Two Western officials told the Times they had been briefed on the dossier but had not yet verified the claims. The dossier alleges one person is accused of kidnapping a woman, another is said to have distributed ammunition, while another employee is described as participating in a kibbutz massacre in which 97 people were killed, the Times reported, adding that it had verified the identify of one of the employees. Israel passed a dossier to the US government that includes specific and as-yet unverified accusations against the 12 UNWRA employees, The New York Times reported on Sunday. CNN was not shown the IDs or other intelligence. Israeli officials say some of the attackers who were killed or detained on October 7 had UNRWA IDs on them. “We showed them that we had solid intelligence from difference sources.”Īn Israeli official familiar with how the intelligence was gathered said it was taken from Hamas computers and documents confiscated during operations in Gaza, and from interrogations of detainees and alleged terrorists. Aharon Haliva, met with senior US officials on Friday and gave them “specific names and which organizations they are affiliated with, whether Hamas or PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) or others, and what exactly they did on October 7,” the Israeli official said. The head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Neither Israel nor UNRWA have specified the nature of the alleged involvement of UNRWA employees in the events of October 7.Īn Israeli official told CNN on Friday that Israel shared information about 12 staffers allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks both with UNRWA and the US. The agency has provided aid to four generations of Palestine refugees, according to its website, covering education, health care, camp infrastructure, social services and emergency assistance, including in times of conflict.Īt least 152 UNRWA staffers have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to the agency.ĭetails remain scant. Since its establishment, the United Nations’ General Assembly – a voting body of all member states – has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate. Those who fit that definition and their descendants now number 5.9 million, all of whom are considered eligible for UNRWA support. Israel has rejected the possibility of allowing the displaced Palestinians to return home, arguing that the move would change the country’s Jewish character. The organization characterizes Palestinian refugees as any “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 War.” UNRWA was established by the United Nations after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to provide humanitarian assistance for displaced Palestinians. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) fired several employees in the wake of the allegations, which have not been made public.įollowing Israel’s allegations, UNRWA’s main donor, the United States, and a growing number of countries have paused funding to the organization, which employs about 13,000 people in Gaza, as the humanitarian disaster spirals in the besieged Palestinian enclave. The main UN agency in Gaza is in turmoil after Israel accused some of its staff members of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.
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