The United Nations acknowledged on August 5 that nine staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) may have been involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and will be fired.
This comes after the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) completed an investigation into allegations that nineteen UNRWA staff members were involved in the attacks, two of whom have since died.
UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York that the OIOS was not able to independently authenticate information used by Israel to support the allegations it provided, which when revealed earlier this year generated sufficient concern globally to cause a number of major donor countries to cut off funding for UNRWA, most of which have quietly resumed providing some aid once the OIOS investigation had been launched.
There were ten of a total of nineteen cases in which OIOS was unable to verify Israeli allegations independently, saying there was zero or insufficient evidence to support the claims of staff members’ involvement. With respect to these ten cases, “appropriate measures will be taken in due course, in conformity with UNRWA Regulations and Rules” according to a media note released by the Secretary General’s office.
UNRWA had previously fired twelve staffers and put seven others on administrative leave without pay over the claims. The group of nine staffers the U.N. announced it had fired August 5 includes some from each group, according to UNRWA.
Israel has escalated calls for UNRWA’s shutdown since the war began, with this idea remaining a longstanding part of UN reform proposals put forward by U.S. Republicans.
Israel has long accused UNRWA of collaborating with Hamas and turning a blind eye to the militant group’s activities. Throughout the war, it has released images of tunnels built next to UNRWA facilities and charged that many more UNRWA staffers than those who have been fired are members of militant groups. Israel has also expressed sharp disagreement with statements coming from various levels of the UN system minimizing the scandal as a case of “a few bad apples.”
During the war, far-right Israeli protesters demonstrating against the agency have set portions of the its facility in Jerusalem ablaze.
The spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on X following the announcement of the firings that Israel was again calling for donor countries to suspend UNRWA’s funding “as the funds may go to terrorist elements.”
“UNRWA is part of the problem and not part of the solution, and anyone who seeks the best interests of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the region should act to replace UNWRA’s activities with other agencies,” he wrote.
It is too little too late, but the truth is starting to come to light.
The probe by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) proves that Israel's assertions about the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre are credible and true.
And that's just… pic.twitter.com/8jUBp8sOgb
— Oren Marmorstein (@OrenMarmorstein) August 5, 2024