UNRWA fires staff suspected of role in Oct 7 attacks
UNRWA #UNRWA
STORY: The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees on Friday said it has opened an investigation into several employees suspected of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas and that it has severed ties with those staff members.
Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UNRWA, did not disclose the number of employees allegedly involved in the attacks, nor the nature of their alleged involvement. But he did say that “any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror” would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.
The U.S. State Department said it was extremely troubled by the allegations, which it said pertained to 12 UNRWA employees.
It also said it would provide no additional funding to the agency until the allegations were addressed.
A representative for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said he was “horrified by this news,” adding that “an urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA will be conducted.”
“How symbolic is it that on International Holocaust Remembrance Day it was exposed that UNWRA employees took part in the massacre?”
Gilad Erdan, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, called out the agency following the news:
“The UN is not only weaponized to delegitimize our existence, but also to physically exterminate us. Contemplate this. Today of all days, the day that we commemorate the genocide of the Jewish people and swear a year, never again. The International Court of Justice made it clear that it wont reject outright the case of a Nazi terror organization that seeks to commit genocide against the Jewish people.”
UNRWA, established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, has provided aid and used its facilities to shelter people fleeing bombardment and a ground offensive launched by Israel in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attacks, in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage.
Some Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have accused the agency of fueling anti-Israeli incitement, allegations it denies.