Federal investigators have launched a sweeping probe into United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff as an UNRWA blacklist takes shape, marking the most aggressive U.S. effort yet to prevent Hamas-linked personnel from circulating through U.N. agencies involved in Gaza’s reconstruction. The USAID inspector general, operating independently from the agency, is building the blacklist to ensure employees with terror ties cannot migrate to other organizations eligible for U.S. taxpayer funds.
Investigatory materials reveal that the U.N. has never designated Hamas as a terrorist organization, meaning affiliation “would not automatically disqualify an applicant from working on a U.S. taxpayer-funded U.N. program.” Federal investigators have already provided the State Department with the names of at least three UNRWA employees who participated in the Oct. 7 attack, along with 14 others tied to Hamas. According to briefing documents, Operation Stop the Carousel will report identified employees to federal officials and potentially refer them to the Department of Justice.
The effort follows a Free Beacon report showing the U.N. dismissed Israeli intelligence linking 19 UNRWA staffers to Hamas. While the U.N.’s internal review deemed the intelligence “likely authentic,” it called the evidence “insufficient” to terminate 10 employees. The inspector general emphasized it “will not rely on self-reporting by the U.N. or other organizations.”
Investigators say the UNRWA blacklist will help prevent “American taxpayers [from funding] the salaries of terrorists” and ensure transparency as the United States moves into a “post-UNRWA world.” A diplomatic official said the work is critical to understanding how Hamas “commandeered U.N. aid trucks,” embedded operatives in U.N. facilities, and diverted humanitarian goods.
USAID officials argue the probe will also reverse Biden-era policies that loosened vetting and sent “vast sums of U.S. money” to entities that internal assessments warned would benefit Hamas.
