The United Nations has finally acknowledged that Palestinians who work for UNRWA – the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestinians – are not only active members of the Hamas terrorist organization but also took part in the October 7 Hamas massacre of innocent Israeli civilians in which more than 1,000 people – including children and entire families – were murdered, with some even burned to death. Specifically, months after Israel revealed this fact to the world the organization admitted that nine UNRWA workers from Gaza took part in the October 7 massacre.
This group includes individuals who were previously suspended without pay, as well as some who had been fired earlier. Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s communications director, confirmed that the nine terminated staff members were drawn from both categories.
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UNWRA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement that he, “decided that in the case of these remaining nine staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA.”
“The agency’s priority is to continue lifesaving and critical services for Palestine refugees in Gaza and across the region, especially in the face of the ongoing war, the instability and the risk of regional escalation,” added Lazzarini.
Oren Marmorstein, the spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to the news with a statement saying, “The OIOS investigation report that was submitted to [UN Secretary General] Antonio Guterres this week verified the involvement of UNRWA workers in the terror attack on Israel on October 7th. It shows that what Israel said about UNRWA was true all along. But UNRWA did not draw even one lesson since.”
Marmorstein also explained that in addition to the nine employees that the UN’s investigative team determined were involved in the October 7 massacre, other workers – about whom the team claimed there was insufficient evidence – were also involved in the massacre. They are members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the “UN must fire them immediately and not sweep the issue under the rug.”
“UNRWA is part of the problem and not part of the solution, and anyone who seeks the best interests of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the region should act to replace UNWRA’s activities with other agencies,” added Marmorstein.
The Israeli agency COGAT – Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories: Judea and Samaria and towards the Gaza Strip – issued a statement of its own saying, “The fact that a UN organization was infiltrated by a terror organization should be a concern to all humanitarians. The fact that the UN remains silent about it is also a concern to donating countries.”
Interestingly, not one word about the UNWRA workers was mentioned on the UN’s Twitter feed, nor that of the UN Secretary-General. Not even the UNWRA Twitter feed said anything about it.
