From the Liveblog of
Friday, October 24, 2025
Rubio: UNRWA is ‘subsidiary of Hamas,’ won’t ‘play any role’ in delivering Gaza aid
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleNava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinians, “is not going to play any role” in delivering aid in Gaza under the US-backed ceasefire plan, calling the agency “a subsidiary of Hamas.”
Asked if the group, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, will assist in providing humanitarian aid to the Strip under the plan, Rubio responds: “UNWRA is not going to play any role in it.”
“The UN is here,” he says, speaking at a press conference from the headquarters of the US Civil-Military Coordination Center overseeing the ceasefire. “We’re seeing the work they’re doing, the World Food Programme. There’s also nonprofit NGOs, humanitarian assistance organizations that are involved in this, Samaritan’s Purse. It’s a conglomeration of about 8-12 groups that are here,” he says.
“We’re willing to work with them if they can make it work. But not UNRWA. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas,” he says.
Israel claims UNRWA has been infiltrated by Hamas and says staffers for the agency participated in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that began the war.
The Times of Israel Community.