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FILE - Palestinian children who fled with their parents from their houses in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, gather in the backyard of an UNRWA school, in Sidon, Lebanon, Sept. 12, 2023. An independent review released Monday, April 22, 2024, of the neutrality of UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, has found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency had participated in Hamas Oct. 7 attacks. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
TANZANIA – U.N. investigators are looking into allegations against 14 of the 19 staffers from the U.N. relief agency for Palestinians who Israel claims were involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that spurred the latest war in Gaza, a spokesman said Friday.
The announcement by U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric provided the first information on the investigation ordered by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.N.’s internal watchdog — the Office of Internal Oversight Services — is carrying out the probe following Israel’s initial allegations in January.
The watchdog, known as the OIOS, reported that of the 19 allegations against UNRWA agency staffers, one case was closed because Israel provided no evidence and four others were suspended for lack of sufficient evidence, Dujarric said.
The United Nations was informed in January of Israeli allegations that 12 employees of the agency known as UNRWA had taken part in the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, when Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and seized some 250 as hostages.
The agency had at the time terminated the contracts of all those employees.
Dujarric said the U.N. later received additional allegations from Israel about seven UNRWA staffers — five in March and two in April.
A separate, independent review of UNRWA’s neutrality. led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was released on Monday. It said Israel had never before expressed concerns about anyone on the staff lists that UNRWA had given Israel every year since 2011.
UNRWA has 32,000 staff in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, including 13,000 in Gaza who provide education, health care, food and other services to several million Palestinians and their families.
The agency’s head, Philippe Lazzarini, said Tuesday that nearly 180 UNRWA staffers have been killed during the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel’s original allegations led to the suspension of contributions to UNRWA by the United States, its biggest donor, and more than a dozen other countries, causing a pause in funding worth about $450 million, according to Colonna's report.
A number of countries have since resumed contributions, but the U.S. Congress has suspended any money for the agency until March 2025.
Dujarric on Friday reiterated Guterres’ appeal to donors to support UNRWA generously. Lazzarini, the agency's commissioner general, says UNRWA has enough money to operate only through June. Dujarric pointed out that UNRWA had released the original information about the Israeli allegations and called for the independent review of its neutrality.
Colonna’s 48-page report said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality but cited serious gaps in implementation. It made 50 recommendations to improve UNRWA’s neutrality, which Guterres and Lazzarini have pledged to implement.
Dujarric said OIOS has not given any indication when its investigation of the 14 staffers would be completed, not did he elaborate on the allegations. He told reporters that OIOS investigators had met with Israeli authorities and would visit again in May.
“These discussions are continuing and ... have enabled progress on the investigations,” he said.
Of the 12 initial cases, eight remain under investigation, he said. Three cases have been suspended and one staffer has been cleared. U.N. “is exploring corrective administration action,” Dujarric said.
UNRWA’s Lazzarini said on Tuesday that anyone cleared by OIOS would be reinstated.
Of the seven additional cases brought to the U.N.’s attention after January, Dujarric said six remain under investigation and one has been suspended pending additional information.
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FAQs
As of November 2023, Yahya Sinwar continues to be the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In January 2024, due to the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, Israel said that Hamas lost control of most of the northern part of the Gaza Strip. In May 2024, Hamas regrouped in the north.
Did Hamas accept ceasefire? ›
"Hamas and the Palestinian factions will not accept to be part of this policy by continuing (ceasefire) negotiations in light of the aggression, siege, starvation and genocide of our people", the Hamas statement read.
Who are the prisoners held by Hamas? ›
According to unconfirmed Israeli intelligence, at least 20 additional hostages may be deceased, with their bodies being held captive in Gaza. As of 24 May 2024, 125 hostages remained in captivity in the Gaza Strip, 121 of whom had been abducted on 7 October 2023; the other four hostages having been captured earlier.
Did the IDF invade Gaza? ›
Raids inside Gaza
On 13 October 2023, the IDF sent armored vehicles and infantry into the Gaza Strip, stating that their goals were to attack Hamas fighters and to rescue hostages that had been abducted to Gaza by Hamas.
What does Hamas mean in Hebrew? ›
The Hebrew word hamas in the Old Testament is most frequently translated as. "violence". However, this translation often .does not do justice to the context in. which the word is used. The virtually constant translation of hamas as "violence"
Does Hamas own the Gaza Strip? ›
2007: Hamas takeover
Shortly after, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in the course of the Battle of Gaza (June 2007), seizing government institutions and replacing Fatah and other government officials with its own.
Does Hamas follow Sharia? ›
Hamas also continued to enforce restrictions on Gaza's population based on its interpretation of Islam and sharia, including a judicial system separate from the PA courts.
How many times has Hamas attacked Israel? ›
There have been four previous major hostilities between Israel and Hamas: in 2008–2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021.
Did Hamas fire rockets at Israel? ›
In a reminder that Hamas is still capable of targeting the Jewish state's major population centers, the terrorist group on Sunday fired an eight-rocket barrage at Tel Aviv and the central region for the first time in four months, rattling millions of residents.
Who does Hamas belong to? ›
HAMAS emerged in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, as an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestinian branch. The group is committed to armed resistance against Israel and the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel's place.
Among the more than 100 hostages still held captive by Hamas in Gaza are five American captives believed to be alive and the bodies of three Americans confirmed dead. Israeli American Keith Siegel has been missing from his home in southern Israel since October.
What is Hamas asking for? ›
In return, Hamas wants Israel to release 1,500 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, including all women, children and elderly people. Some 5,200 Palestinians were behind bars in Israel as of October 2023, among them 33 children and 170 women.
Was Palestine a country before Israel? ›
While the State of Israel was established on 15 May 1948 and admitted to the United Nations, a Palestinian State was not established. The remaining territories of pre-1948 Palestine, the West Bank - including East Jerusalem- and Gaza Strip, were administered from 1948 till 1967 by Jordan and Egypt, respectively.
Do Palestinians support Hamas? ›
Palestinian support for Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza remains high, according to a Palestinian poll released on March 20. That support has increased since the Iran-backed terrorist group attacked Israel on October 7.
How much of Gaza does Israel control now? ›
Israel's military has said it has taken control of the strategically important buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi Corridor, meaning it now controls Gaza's entire land border.
Who controls the Gaza Strip today? ›
In recent decades, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has controlled parts of the West Bank, and the militant group Hamas has run the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israel has exercised power over both areas in different ways.
What is happening in Gaza? ›
There is an intensification of bombardments in the central neighbourhoods of Gaza City where three Palestinians have been killed in the Remal neighbourhood where a residential house was reduced to rubble.
Does Israel support Gaza? ›
A majority of Israelis support their country's military response to Hamas in Gaza but are divided over its scope, according to a survey by Pew Research published Thursday.
Who is the chief of Hamas Gaza? ›
Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar (Arabic: يحيى السنوار, romanized: Yaḥyá al-Sanwār; born 29 October 1962), also spelled Yehya Sinwar, is a Palestinian politician who has been leader of Hamas, the Sunni Islamist political and military organization that rules the Gaza Strip, since 2017.
