Nine employees of the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) “may have been involved” in the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, according to the UN’s internal investigation into 19 people accused by Israel.
In late January, Israeli authorities initially accused 12 UNRWA employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group, sparking a storm against the agency, the backbone of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Seven more names were later added to the list.
The accusations prompted major donors to suspend funding for the agency, which has more than 30,000 employees serving 5.9 million Palestinians in the region, including 13,000 in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Antònio Guterres immediately called for an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
In one case, “no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations” and in nine other cases, the evidence “was insufficient to support the involvement of employees,” Guterres’ deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday.
“As for the other nine cases, the evidence obtained by [le BSCI] “indicate that UNRWA employees may have been involved in the armed attacks of October 7,” he added, assuring that these individuals would be dismissed.
“They cannot work for UNRWA,” insisted the agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini in a statement. The agency’s staff must “respect” the principles of the UN “internally and externally,” he added, stressing the principle of “humanitarian neutrality.”
An international spokesman for the Israeli military, Nadav Shoshani, responded Monday night on X, saying the agency had reached “a new low” with the announcement of the investigation’s findings. “It’s time for the world to see your true colors,” he added.
Israeli accusations unverifiable
Stressing that investigations by the UN’s internal services are confidential, Farhan Haq said he had no further details on the content of the accusations and the evidence.
But “we have enough information to take the actions we are taking, which is the termination of these nine individuals,” he said. “Beyond that, we will need to assess what additional steps are necessary to fully corroborate and evaluate” the information.
Investigators traveled to Israel to review Israeli information and to Amman, Jordan, to obtain information from UNRWA.
But “because the information used by the Israeli authorities to support their accusations remained in Israeli hands, the OIOS was unable to independently authenticate most of the information,” Haq insisted.
For security reasons, UN investigators have also not met with the accused employees or potential witnesses, but have received recorded video statements from some of those involved, the UN said.
“Persistent neutrality issues”
The October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 111 are still being held in Gaza, including 39 who died, according to the army.
In response, Israel launched an offensive that has caused a humanitarian disaster and so far left 39,623 dead, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza government’s health ministry, which does not detail the number of civilian and combatant deaths.
Following accusations against UNRWA that prompted major donors to suspend their financial participation, Antònio Guterres appointed an independent committee to assess the agency’s “neutrality”.
In April, the committee, chaired by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, concluded that UNRWA had “persistent neutrality problems” and made recommendations to improve the functioning of this “irreplaceable” agency for aid to the Palestinians.
Several donors, including Canada, have since announced the resumption of their funding.