UN fires 9 staff who ‘may have’ taken part in Oct. 7 attack

Augusta Saraiva | (TNS) Bloomberg News

The United Nations said it has fired additional staff from its main relief agency in Gaza, bringing the total to nine, after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

The U.N. concluded that the nine employees, all of whom worked for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, were likely to have participated in the attacks that triggered the Israel-Hamas war, according to the probe. That was far fewer staff than Israel claims have ties to the terrorist group.

The U.N. has chosen to take “very swift and very decisive” action for the benefit of the agency, said U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq. The U.N. said it wasn’t able to independently corroborate most information shared by Israeli officials and therefore doesn’t have conclusive evidence on their involvement.

The U.N. had already fired seven of the nine UNRWA staffers in January over Israeli allegations that they had taken part in the attack.

“We want to make sure that the reputation of our UNRWA staff, our dedicated staff — including about 200 who’ve lost their lives since the 7th of October — is fully recognized and UNRWA gets the support it needs,” Haq told reporters Monday. UNRWA provides basic services, including health care, education and shelter, in Gaza.

Israel’s claims that UNRWA workers are involved in terrorist activities have prompted some donors to halt funding to the organization. Israel has alleged that as much as 10% of the relief agency’s 12,000 workers are part of the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are designated terrorist groups by the U.S.

A separate U.N. report in April said Israeli officials had yet to share evidence to back up those claims, prompting many donors to restore funding. However, the U.S. — its largest annual donor — banned funding for the agency until mid-2025, which has raised questions about UNRWA’s ability to keep providing for some 2 million Palestinians it serves across the Middle East.

The U.N. concluded nine employees didn’t participate in the attacks and said it didn’t receive any evidence on one of the claims.

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