UNRWA confirms that Muhammad Abu Attawi was a staffer and killed on Wednesday, after Israel announced it had targeted him in a strike.
The IDF and Shin Bet said that Attawi, a Hamas Nukhba Force commander who led the killing and kidnapping of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, had been employed by UNRWA since July 2022.
According to UNRWA, Attawi’s name was included in a letter the Palestinian refugee agency received from Israel in July that included a list of 100 staff members who were also allegedly members of armed groups, including Hamas.
“The UNRWA commissioner general responded to that letter immediately stating that any allegation is taken seriously. He urged (the government of Israel) to cooperate with the agency by providing more information so he could take action. To date, UNRWA has not received any response to that letter,” says Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications.
IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says Israel “has requested urgent clarifications from senior UN officials and an urgent investigation into the involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre.”
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From the Liveblog of
Friday, October 25, 2024
