UN investigators probe 14 Gaza aid staffers Israel had tied to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack
UNITED NATIONS — UN investigators are looking into allegations against 14 of 19 staff members of the UN aid agency for Palestinians who Israel claims were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas militants that sparked the latest war in Gaza, a spokesman said on Friday .
The announcement by UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric provided the first information about the investigation commissioned by Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The UN’s internal watchdog – the Office of Internal Oversight Services – is conducting the investigation following Israel’s first accusations in January.
The watchdog, known as the OIOS, reported that of 19 allegations against UNRWA agency employees, one case was closed because Israel did not provide 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 organization known as UNRWA took part in the October 7 attack on southern Israel, when Hamas and other Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and killed about 250 people hostage.
The employment agency had terminated the contracts of all these employees at the time.
Dujarric said the UN later received additional allegations from Israel about seven UNRWA staffers – five in March and two in April.
A separate, independent assessment of UNRWA’s neutrality. led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was released on Monday. It says Israel has never previously raised concerns about anyone on the personnel lists that UNRWA has provided to Israel every year since 2011.
UNRWA has 32,000 staff in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, including 13,000 in Gaza, providing education, health care, food and other services to several million Palestinians and their families.
The agency’s head, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday that nearly 180 UNRWA staffers had been killed during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, including about two-thirds children and women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. in which no distinction is made between civilians and combatants.
Israel’s original accusations led to the suspension of contributions to UNRWA by the United States, its largest donor, and more than a dozen other countries, creating a funding pause worth about $450 million, Colonna’s report said.
A number of countries have since resumed contributions, but the U.S. Congress has suspended all funding for the agency until March 2025.
Dujarric on Friday reiterated Guterres’ call for donors to generously support UNRWA. Lazzarini, the agency’s commissioner general, says UNRWA has enough money to operate only in June. Dujarric pointed out that UNRWA had released the original information about the Israeli accusations and called for an independent assessment of its neutrality.
The 48-page Colonna report states that UNRWA has “robust” procedures in place to uphold the UN principle of neutrality, but that there are serious gaps in implementation. It made 50 recommendations to improve UNRWA’s neutrality, which Guterres and Lazzarini have pledged to implement.
Dujarric said OIOS did not provide any indication of when the investigation into the 14 staffers would be completed, and he did not elaborate on the allegations. He told reporters that OIOS investigators had met with Israeli authorities and would visit again in May.
“These discussions continue and have enabled progress in research,” he said.
Of the 12 initial cases, eight are still under investigation, he said. Three cases have been suspended and one employee has been acquitted. The UN is “exploring corrective actions by the administration,” Dujarric said.
UNRWA’s Lazzarini said on Tuesday that anyone approved by the OIOS would be reinstated.
Of the seven additional cases brought to the UN’s attention after January, Dujarric said six remain under investigation and one has been suspended pending additional information.
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