Tensions rose further on Monday between Israel, which accused UNRWA of employing “more than 450 terrorists” in Gaza, and the UN agency which reported “torture” suffered by its employees arrested in the Palestinian territory.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its employees in late January of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack that led to the death of 1,160 people, mainly civilians, according to a count by Agence France-Presse.
Claiming to base itself on information from intelligence services, the Israeli army affirmed Monday that “more than 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, mainly Hamas, are also employed by UNRWA.”
At the same time, it published what it said was a recording of “a terrorist working as an Arabic teacher in an UNRWA school” who “describes (on October 7) his entry into Israeli territory and says that “He is holding Israeli women hostage.”
After Israel’s accusations in January, which led to the suspension of funding from around 15 donor countries, the UN immediately separated itself from the accused employees, launched an internal investigation and assigned an independent group a mission to evaluation of UNRWA and its “neutrality”.
But she notes that, so far, Israel has not shared any evidence of its accusations with investigators or with UNRWA, which employs some 30,000 people in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
For its part, the UN agency accused the Israeli authorities of having committed acts of “torture” against some of its employees arrested in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
“Our employees reported horrific things to us during their detention and interrogation by Israeli authorities” such as “torture, ill-treatment, abuse and sexual exploitation,” the agency said in a statement sent at Agence France-Presse.
“Some of our employees reported to UNRWA teams that they had been forced to make confessions under torture” when they were “questioned about relations between UNRWA and Hamas and about involvement in the “October 7 attack on Israel,” she added. Confessions which, according to the agency, serve as a “disinformation” campaign led “by the Israeli authorities”.
Agence France-Presse was unable to independently confirm the accusations by the Israeli army and UNRWA.
Ambassador recalled
Tensions between the United Nations and the Israeli authorities were also illustrated on Monday by Israel’s recall of its ambassador to the UN.
“I have ordered our ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, to return to Israel for immediate consultations,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a message published on X.
To explain his decision, the minister accused the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, of remaining “silent” on the “atrocities committed by Hamas” despite the publication on Monday of a report by the special representative of Hamas. UN on sexual violence during conflicts, Pramila Patten, who “details them crudely”.
Mr. Guterres’ spokesperson denied the accusations. “In no case has the secretary general done anything to keep this report silent,” his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told AFP.
The military operations launched by Israel, in retaliation for the October 7 attack, left more than 30,500 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.