The United Nations (U.N.) announced this week that nine male members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) have been fired.
The employees were under investigation for their alleged involvement in the October 7 attack against Israel.
UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, declared that an investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) concluded that nine staff members “may have been involved in the attacks of 7 October.”
“I acknowledge the completion of the investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into the serious allegations that 19 area UNRWA staff members in Gaza were involved in the abhorrent attacks of 7 October on southern Israel,” Lazzarini said in a statement.
“In one case, no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member’s involvement. That staff member has rejoined the Agency,” he explained, noting that in “nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff members’ involvement and the OIOS investigation of them is now closed.”
“For the remaining nine cases, the evidence – if authenticated and corroborated – could indicate that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the attacks of 7 October,” Lazzarini continued.
The contracts of the remaining nine staff members “will be terminated in the interest of the Agency.”
Upon first hearing that UNRWA staff members were allegedly involved in the October 7 attack, the United States suspended funding to the agency.
“The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that twelve UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Mille said at the time. “The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.”
Twenty-four U.S. state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders in May, demanding that the United States permanently suspend funding to UNRWA.
Since 2021, the Biden administration has given nearly $1 billion in Palestinian aid to UNRWA.
