The explosive accusations, which could not be independently verified by The Post, have sparked a high-level U.N. investigation and led a cascade of governments to put millions of dollars in funding for the agency on hold at the height of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The dossier, first reported by the New York Times, includes many charges that Israel has leveled for years against the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, namely that it maintains a state of “mutual dependence” with Hamas.
But the new accusations of complicity on Oct. 7 — when Hamas-led fighters rampaged through southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, many of them civilians — have plunged the United Nations into crisis and threatened its operations in Gaza. UNRWA is the leading provider of aid and shelter in the besieged enclave amid a looming famine.
Thirteen UNRWA employees took direct part in the attacks, including six who infiltrated into Israel, the document says — identifying five as affiliated with Hamas. The document does not name the accused.
Two of those who entered Israel, and two other employees working in Gaza, allegedly aided in the kidnapping of some of the 253 people who were taken captive that day. One hostage, likely among the 105 released during a pause in combat in late November, testified that she was abducted by an UNRWA teacher, the dossier said.
Three additional employees were directed by text message to gather at an assembly point on the night of Oct. 6 to be equipped with weapons, according to the document, though there was no confirmation that they had joined the rendezvous. At least one UNRWA employee supplied “logistic support” to the attack, and another was tasked with setting up an operations center in the aftermath, it said. It is unclear whether they followed the alleged orders.
“We discovered that there are UNRWA workers that actually participated either directly or indirectly in the Oct. 7 massacre,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Britain’s TalkTV on Monday. “UNRWA is perforated with Hamas.”
The findings were presented Friday to foreign governments and the United Nations, according an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified issues. However, Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, said Monday that Israel has yet to share the full dossier with them. The news broke within hours of a ruling by the United Nations’ International Court of Justice that ordered Israel to take immediate steps to protect civilians in Gaza.
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said Friday he was “horrified” by the revelations. The world body pledged to launch an independent investigation into the allegations and said it would refer for criminal prosecution anyone shown to have participated in, or abetted, the attacks.
Guterres said Sunday that nine employees were “immediately identified and terminated,” one is “confirmed dead,” and “the identity of the two others is being clarified.”
At least 10 governments moved swiftly to pause support for UNRWA, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Australia. In 2022, the United States was UNRWA’s largest donor, contributing $344 million.
“There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7,” the State Department said in a statement Friday, adding that it has briefed members of Congress on the allegations.
The UNRWA crisis comes at a desperate moment for Gaza. At least 26,422 people have been killed, many of them women and children, and 65,087 have been injured since the start of Israel’s military operation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 150 UNRWA employees are among the dead, the United Nations says, the largest loss of life the organization has ever experienced in a single conflict.
At least 1.9 million people in the enclave have been displaced, and 90 percent are eating less than one meal a day, according to the World Food Program. Disease is spreading, and the health-care system is in ruins.
“It is shocking to see a suspension of funds to the agency in reaction to allegations against a small group of staff, especially given the immediate action that UNRWA took,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said Saturday.
He noted that more than 2 million Gazans are almost entirely dependent on aid provided by UNRWA and that more than a million are sheltering in U.N. facilities, most of them former schools. Even before the funding pause, aid organizations had warned that Gaza was on the verge of a total humanitarian collapse, with hunger and exposure to the winter cold emerging as the most urgent threats to civilians.
Donors typically contribute money throughout the year, so it was not immediately clear how much aid has been cut in the immediate term. But without a renewal in funding, UNRWA can sustain operations only until “the end of February,” Touma said.
“These cuts are going to severely impact operations,” she added. “The timing is really so critical as the risk of famine looms and humanitarian needs deepen, as more and more people are displaced.”
UNRWA coordinates the movement of humanitarian supplies into Gaza through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings, a difficult and dangerous process, often carried out under fire. The agency is the biggest distributor of food in the strip, Touma said, and one of the few remaining providers of medical care.
If the agency ends its work in Gaza, no other humanitarian group is positioned to take its place, she said: “UNRWA is by far the largest United Nations agency and largest humanitarian organization in Gaza at the moment. And it plays the most critical role.”
Hazem Balousha in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
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