Nine UNRWA staff members fired over ‘likely’ involvement in 7 October
UN spokesperson says those likely to have been involved in Hamas massacre had committed a 'tremendous betrayal' of work they were meant to be doing for the Palestinian people
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Nine staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) are likely to have been involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and have now been fired.
The United Nations confirmed the dismissals on Monday, following a lengthy investigation into the alleged involvement of 19 UNRWA staff members in the October 7 Hamas massacre two of whom have since died.
“For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the seventh of October attacks,” deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told a U.N. briefing.
“For us, any participation in the attacks is a tremendous betrayal of the sort of work that we are supposed to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian people.”
Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani posted on social media platform X after the announcement saying “Your ‘relief’ agency has officially stooped to a new level of low and it is time that the world sees your true face.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan called the investigation a “disgrace” and “too little too late,” in response to the outcome of the investigation.
Haq said all the nine individuals who the investigation concluded may have been involved were men. It was unclear what they had done.
“We have sufficient information in order to take the actions that we’re taking, which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals,” said Haq.
Asked if this meant the U.N. considered that the nine were “likely or highly likely” to have been part of the attacks, he replied: “That’s a good way of describing it.”
The UN had launched the probe after Israel initially said 12 UNRWA took part in Ocotber 7, before a further seven cases were brought to the attention of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services.
In March, Israel suggested up to 450 UNRWA staff were military operatives in Gaza terrorist groups.
The aid agency, which had its UK funding restored last month after it was suspended due to the link with terror attack employs 32,000 people, including 13,000 in Gaza.
Israel did not provide evidence to support the claims relating to 450 employees.
The UN said the investigation had made findings in relation to 19 UNRWA staff members, with several escaping the sack after it was concluded the evidence of involvement in Oct 7 was not conclusive enough.
Allegations of collusion with Hamas led to multiple countries, including the UK, US and Germany suspending their funding to UNRWA, the main channel of humanitarian support to Palestinian refugee communities across the region, in January.
Investigations mounted into the agency’s ability to scrutise staff and stop further future wrongdoing have reassured every country expect the United States to restore funding to the organisation, while Israel’s war against Hamas continues.
In a statement, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said those who were found to have likely taken part in October 7 “cannot work for Unrwa”, insisting that staff must respect its policies, insisting on the “humanitarian principle of neutrality”.
“The agency’s priority is to continue lifesaving and critical services for Palestine refugees in Gaza and across the region, especially in the face of the ongoing war, the instability and risk of regional escalation,” he added.
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