Israeli intelligence has revealed new details about the extent of UN Relief Works Agency’s (UNRWA) links to terrorist group Hamas.
According to reports exclusively shared with the New York Times, UNRWA had been employing Hamas terrorists as teachers and school staff across UN-run schools in Gaza.
The reports indicates how a majority of UN personnel at such schools with links to Hamas would work as principals, deputy principals, school counselors, and teachers by day and fighters in Hamas’ army by night.
Israeli’s government condemned UNRWA for hiring Hamas fighters to educate Gaza’s civilian populations, stating “𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐒 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐖𝐀 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬.”
The news have caused international outrage as well as renewed criticism towards UNRWA from American lawmakers already distrustful of the organization.
US Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) demanded “accountability” from the UN, claiming the reports reveal how, during the October 7th attacks, UNRWA “hundreds of @UNRWA employees joined forces with evil, Iran-backed Hamas terrorists to attack our friend Israel.”
Israel’s reports follow recent accusations from UNRWA the former is waging a deceitful misinformation campaign against it.
“This latest global effort by a UN member state to label a UN agency as a terror organisation may amount to hate speech using corporations that are supposed to promote commercial products,” reads an UNRWA press release.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) responded via X, claiming UNRWA has “been spreading misinformation regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza for quite some time now, and some of your workers are proven to be terrorists.”
Last January, Israeli intelligence reports began exposing connections between UNRWA and Hamas.
Israel’s reports claim around 1,200 of UNRWA’s roughly 12,000 Gaza employees have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Additionally, nearly 6,000 have close relatives who belong to the Islamist militant groups.
The US has granted hundreds of millions of dollars to UNRWA, which in 2022 reported a budget of $1.17 billion.
Despite pressure to cut aid, President Joe Biden maintained it after overturning former President Donald Trump’s administration’s decision to cease granting Gaza any US aid.
