Israel presents list of alleged Hamas supporters to UN
Israel accuses the UN-organization for Palestinians, UNRWA, of being infiltrated by Hamas. The country has now presented a list of employees identified as being actively involved in the terror organization. A total of over 100 UNRWA employees are involved.
Israel, according to its own statements, has compiled a list of UNRWA employees who are also reportedly active in the terror organization Hamas. The country identified 108 such employees and presented the list to UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini, the Israeli embassy in Berlin reported.
This only concerns a small part of the hundreds of UNRWA employees who, according to Israel, are employed by Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The information cannot currently be verified independently.
According to a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the list was also presented to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Israel has not yet made the list public. The UN Palestinian Refugee Agency responded with no comment upon request.
Involved on October 7 as well?
UNRWA made headlines in January when Israel accused several employees of the aid agency of being involved in the October 7 massacre. The organization is described by Israel as a whole as being infiltrated by the Islamist Hamas. Several countries, including Germany, initially suspended their funding to the organization.
An independent review report by experts later concluded that UNRWA had established robust mechanisms to uphold its neutrality principle. However, improvements were needed. In early April, Germany announced that it would resume funding for the UNRWA.
"UNRWA has become a terror charity. The German government must ensure that German taxpayer money does not end up in the hands of terrorists," Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, said in a statement. The Hamas also reportedly uses UN-organization facilities militarily, it was further stated.
The Hamas terror organization is allegedly represented within UNRWA through its employees, as claimed by Israel. This assertion led Israel to prepare a list of over 100 UNRWA staff members suspected of being involved in Hamas activities. The Palestinian conflict and the surrounding politics continue to pose challenges, with Israel accusing Hamas of engaging in host-conflict activities, even utilizing UN-organization facilities for military purposes.
