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The daughter of an elderly Israeli hostage has challenged the United Nations over UNRWA’s role in educating children in Gaza after her mother was held captive for 48 days by one of the agency’s teachers.
Neta Heiman Mina addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, recounting the ordeal of her mother, Ditza Heiman, who was 84 when she was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led 7 October attacks.
Ditza spent 53 days in captivity before being released in November 2023. Her daughter said that for 48 days she was kept in the attic of the home of a UNRWA teacher named Abed.
“For forty-eight days, an UNRWA teacher kept her trapped in his attic – in terrible conditions, with very little food,” Heiman Mina told delegates.
“I ask the United Nations: How could you place the education of Gaza’s next generation with someone involved in holding an elderly woman hostage?”
The 90-second intervention came during a Human Rights Council panel on human rights education for children and young people. Heiman Mina delivered the statement on behalf of UN Watch and Ingénieurs du Monde.
She also raised the case of Suhail al-Hindi, a former UNRWA school principal and head of its Gaza staff union, who was suspended by the agency in 2017 following reports that he had been elected to the Hamas political bureau.
“Why did UNRWA allow Suhail al-Hindi to be in charge of eight thousand teachers in Gaza, while he was a member of Hamas?” she asked.
“If the UN truly cares about human rights and education, how can it allow an agency compromised by terrorism to shape the future of Palestinian children?”
Her intervention follows further scrutiny of UNRWA staff over alleged links to Hamas and the 7 October attacks.
Jewish News reported last month that US investigators had recommended action against three former UNRWA teachers accused of links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, including one accused of helping abduct hostages and another of holding civilians captive in Gaza.
The UK government announced a further £23 million for UNRWA in July, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper saying the agency remained central to providing humanitarian support at the scale needed. Britain resumed funding to UNRWA in 2024 after suspending payments following allegations that some of its employees were involved in the 7 October attacks.
Heiman Mina’s appearance also came a day after UN Watch published a report disputing UNRWA’s claim that it had completed 41 of the 50 measures recommended by the independent Colonna Review. The Geneva-based organisation argued that many of the reforms had failed to deliver meaningful changes to oversight and accountability.
But Heiman Mina told the council that replacing UNRWA should not mean withdrawing essential support from Palestinians in Gaza.
“I believe the vacuum must be filled. The UN and the Board of Peace must find alternatives to provide Gaza’s children with healthcare, education, and food security,” she said.
Closing her address, Heiman Mina drew on her work with the Israeli peace movement Women Wage Peace.
“As an activist with Women Wage Peace, I believe Israel should support this effort; it is the moral and Jewish thing to do. When the people of Gaza have a better life, our future will be better too.”
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