The 12 staffers that took part in Oct 7
Among the staff who took part in the attacks are teachers who worked at UNRWA schools.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL) Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has publicly revealed the identities of the 12 staff members from the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA who Israel says “actively participated” in the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught on southern Israel.
The US and multiple European countries halted aid to UNRWA in January following Israel’s allegations against staffers.
Among the staff who took part in the attacks are teachers who worked at UNRWA schools.
“In addition to these 12 workers, we have significant indications based on intelligence, that over 30 UNRWA workers participated in the massacre, facilitated the taking of hostages, looted and stole from Israeli communities, and more,” Gallant said last month in a briefing with foreign press.
Gallant said that UNRWA has “lost legitimacy and can no longer function as a UN body”, and said he has therefore instructed the IDF and defence establishment to transfer responsibilities of aid delivery in the Strip to other humanitarian organisations.
According to Gallant, of the 13,000 UNRWA employees in Gaza, at least 12 per cent are affiliated with the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups.
He said that “1468 workers are known to be active in Hamas and PIJ, 185 UNRWA workers are active in the military branches of Hamas and 51 are active in the PIJ military branch.”
The United Nations has announced the creation of an independent panel to assess the agency following the claims. A preliminary report is due to be published in the next several weeks.
Israel, which provided the evidence of UNRWA members participating in the attack, has said the mandate for the probe is too vague and won’t prevent terrorists from taking advantage of the organisation in the future.
Israel has said Hamas used UNRWA facilities for its own purposes and built parts of its massive underground network of tunnels and military facilities underneath the UN organisation’s sites. It recently took multiple media outlets to tour one such operations centre under the organisation’s headquarters in Gaza City.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini denied any knowledge of the Hamas data centre found under its Gaza headquarters, but the Israeli military and Foreign Minister Israel Katz immediately cast doubt on his claim.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) tweeted “Oh, you knew, ” at Lazzarini after the UN agency chief pleaded ignorance.
“You chose to ignore the facts so you can later try and deny them,” it added.
The allegation that Hamas was running a data centre under UNRWA’s nose has added to growing concerns over the level of Hamas infiltration in the agency.
Jerusalem has long argued that UNRWA should be disbanded.
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