UNRWA has 100 employees who are members of Hamas, Israel claims
Israel has named 100 employees of a UN agency in Gaza as members of Hamas and demanded they are fired.
This was just “a fraction” of the true number of workers from the terrorist organisation, it said in a letter to the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Israel has also sent the list countries that donate to UNRWA, many of whom – including the US and UK – froze their funding to the agency after the Oct 7 attacks.
It insists there are hundreds more active Hamas terrorists, including school headteachers, employed by UNRWA, which has 13,000 local employees.
The list is expected to be updated and expanded in what Israel calls a “test case” for the agency.
After Oct 7, it emerged that 12 UNRWA employees had links to Hamas.
That brought the agency to the attention of the Israeli security forces before the latest accusations, The Telegraph understands.
They come after UNRWA gave Israel a list of its workers, which it has cross-checked against its own intelligence to identify them as belonging to Hamas.
As the war has raged, there have been accusations of Hamas tunnels under UNRWA-run schools as Israel has claimed to have uncovered large-scale infiltration of the agency.
Israel sees no role for UNRWA in Gaza after the war ends, especially in the provision of education, The Telegraph understands.
The UNRWA, the largest humanitarian organisation in Gaza, has been asked for comment.
On Wednesday, the agency’s Twitter account called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“453 attacks impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them have been reported since the war began. Two thirds of our schools in Gaza have been hit, with 524 people sheltering in our facilities killed, it said.
“UN structures, schools and shelters are not a target.”
In April, an independent review led by Catherine Colonna, the former French foreign minister, completed a report into the agency after allegations 12 UNRWA workers took part in the Hamas terror attack on Israel.
It found that Israel had failed to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of UNRWA workers were members of terrorist organisations and said the agency had “robust” policies to ensure its staff were neutral.
That has done nothing to placate Israel, which nurtures a long list of grievances against the agency and has a difficult relationship with the UN.
Shortly after the Hamas attack, it called on UN secretary general António Guterres to resign after he said the atrocity did not “happen in a vacuum”.
On Tuesday, UN human rights experts accused Israel of “genocidal violence” and a “targeted starvation campaign” which has caused “famine across all of Gaza.”
