UN to Dismiss 9 UNRWA Employees Who Together With Hamas terrorists Attacked Israel on 7th October
Nine employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will be fired for their alleged involvement in attack on Israel with Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023.
Philip Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in an official statement on Monday.
The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services has now concluded its investigation into serious allegations of involvement by 19 local UNRWA staff in Gaza in the horrific 7 October attacks on southern Israel, launched in January after it was revealed that UNRWA staff were involved in the attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people and took another 250 hostages.
The results of the OIOS investigation are as follows:
In one case, OIOS did not receive any evidence to support the allegations of staff involvement. The staff member returned to the Agency.
In the other nine cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the allegations of staff involvement, and the OIOS investigation is now closed.
For the remaining nine cases, the evidence - if authenticated and corroborated - may indicate that UNRWA staff may have been involved in the 7 October attacks.
"I have decided that in the case of these nine remaining staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA. All of their contracts will be cancelled in the best interests of the Agency," said the UNRWA Commissioner-General.
He reiterated UNRWA's condemnation of the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists in the strongest terms and once again called on the terrorists to immediately and unconditionally release all hostages and return them safely to their families.
Earlier, the EU and US donors stopped funding the UN over allegations of terrorism and assistance to Hamas terrorists.
About 1,200 people were killed in an unprecedented terrorist attack on 7 October in southern Israel, most of them civilians. Another 253 people, also mostly civilians, were abducted and taken to Gaza, where more than 130 remain.
UNRWA has 13,000 staff in Gaza, almost all of whom are Palestinian.