The United Nations disclosed on Monday that nine staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) could have potentially been complicit in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, resulting in their dismissal from the agency. The UN’s deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, confirmed this during a UN briefing, stating the evidence implicated these individuals in the October attacks.
Haq’s statement was based on the internal investigation conducted by the UN office of internal oversight services (OIOS), which examined allegations of 19 UNRWA employees’ involvement in the attacks. Two of these staff members have, however, passed away. Haq’s announcement on Monday confirmed the expulsion of nine individuals, with the records of the remaining personnel to be further examined.
Haq confirmed that all implicated from the investigation were men, though he chose not to elaborate on their specific roles in the Islamist organisation’s attacks. He articulated that any involvement in the attacks was seen as a grave betrayal of UN’s duties toward the Palestinian population.
Earlier in January, Israel had accused 12 UNRWA staff members of participation in the Hamas-led October 7th attacks, which led to the eruption of the Gaza war. The UN subsequently initiated an investigation into these allegations after receiving additional complaints regarding seven cases in March and April.
Moreover, in March, Israel heightened its accusations, alleging the involvement of over 450 UNWRA staff as active members of terrorist cells in Gaza. UNWRA employs total 32,000 individuals in its operations, of which 13,000 are based in Gaza.
In response to the UN’s announcement, the Israeli military spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, denounced UNWRA on the social media platform X, urging the world to see their ‘real face’.
Haq noted that the UN’s findings implicated 19 UNRWA staff members in the attack. For one employee, there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the allegations. UNWRA, in March, mentioned that some workers who were freed from Israeli detention in Gaza allegedly admitted to fabricating allegations against the agency under pressure from Israeli authorities.
In a statement, Haq disclosed that the specifics of the OIOS investigation remain classified. He explained that the evidence supporting Israeli authorities’ claims has stayed with them, preventing “OIOS from independently verifying the majority of the information it received.” Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the U.N. possesses adequate details for proceeding with its intended actions – namely, terminating the duties of nine individuals.
When queried about whether this implies a strong possibility that these nine individuals were directly involved in the attacks, Haq responded affirmatively, agreeing that it was an apt description.
(Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024).