UN says 9 UNRWA employees ‘may have been involved’ in Oct 7 attacks, will be fired

The UN says nine employees of its agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA ‘may have been involved’ in Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel.

The Office of Internal Oversight Services says it has completed its investigation into 19 UNRWA staff members alleged to have taken part in the attacks and concluded that in nine cases, “the evidence obtained by OIOS indicated that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023.

“The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interests of the Agency,” it says.

In nine other cases the OIOS says the evidence of involvement was insufficient, while in one case there was no evidence.

Israel has alleged that hundreds of UNRWA employees have ties to terror groups in Gaza. In January UNRWA said it had fired an unspecified number of staffers, after Israeli authorities provided information that pointed to their active participation in the October 7 terror onslaught. Apparently the nine announced today include staff members let go then.

The accusations led numerous countries to suspend their funding to the organization, but many have since renewed it, citing the difficult humanitarian situation in the Strip.

In April, a review of UNRWA by an independent panel said Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of agency staff were members of terrorist organizations and argued that UNRWA had “robust” policies in place to ensure staff neutrality.