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Published January 29, 2024, 3:59 pm ET
About 1,200 employees of the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency have ties to Hamas – and thousands more employees have close ties to members of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, according to an Israeli dossier.
The damning report, prepared based on interrogations of Hamas terrorists and documents recovered in Gaza, alleges that about 10% of the 12,000 United Nations Palestine Relief Agency staff in Gaza have Hamas or Palestinian ties Islamic Jihad, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Of all the agency's employees, nearly half – or around 6,000 – have close relatives of the militant organizations that have ruled Gaza since 2007, according to intelligence provided to the US.
People with ties to the terror groups were considered “activists,” meaning they took part in Hamas military or political activities, the report said.
“UNRWA's problem is not just 'a few bad apples' involved in the October 7 massacre – the institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas' radical ideology,” a senior Israeli government official told the Journal.
According to Israeli intelligence, about 10% of the 12,000 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine have close ties to terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. AFP via Getty Images The aid organization is responsible for distributing the majority of aid to the nearly 2 million refugees in the Gaza Strip. Portal
UNRWA declined to comment on allegations that its ranks were filled with Hamas relatives, noting that an internal U.N. investigation into the organization was underway after 12 members were accused last week of participating to have been involved in the terrorist attack on October 7th.
While 15% of average adult men in Gaza have ties to Hamas, the intelligence report indicates that a significantly higher percentage – almost a quarter – of male UNRWA employees had ties to Hamas, suggesting the terror group may have more influence could have had on the aid organization than on the population as a whole.
The apparent politicization of the aid group was previously highlighted by Israel, which noted that former UNRWA union chief Suhail al-Hindi was elected to a senior position at Hamas in 2017.
UNRWA quickly fired al-Hindi following the release of the intelligence report.
UNRWA has long been accused of spreading anti-Israel sentiment in its refugee camps. Xinhua/Shutterstock
The charity has fired nine of the 12 employees accused of active involvement in Hamas's terrorist activities, including an Arabic teacher who turned out to be a militant commander and was involved in the massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7.
Two of the dozen are already dead, and the fate of the twelfth is unclear.
The fired staff included other teachers and social workers who took part in the terrorist attack that left more than 1,200 people dead and more than 240 others kidnapped.
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini criticized the nations for cutting off funding to the aid group following Israel's report. via Portal At least twelve UNRWA employees were directly involved in the October 7 terrorist attack, according to intelligence documents. Portal
The allegations facing the agency have shaken the world's confidence in its ability to provide aid to the nearly two million Palestinian refugees caught in the middle of the Israel-Hamas war.
Ten nations, including the United States, have cut millions of dollars in funding for UNRWA. The organization's Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, criticized the move as one that unfairly punishes the Palestinian population as a whole.
“Our humanitarian operation, which two million people rely on as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing,” Lazzarini said over the weekend. “I am shocked that such decisions are being made based on the alleged behavior of a few individuals and while the war continues, hardship is increasing and famine is looming.
“The Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This taints us all,” he added.
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