what the UN’s internal investigation into its UNRWA staff revealed

2024-08-06 09:01:00

NOfficials of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) “may have participated” in the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, according to a UN internal investigation into 19 people accused by Israel.

At the end of January, Israeli authorities first accused 12 UNRWA workers of involvement in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group, causing a storm against the agency, the backbone of humanitarian aid in Gaza. Seven more names were later added to the list.

These allegations have led major donors to freeze their funding for the agency, which has more than 30,000 employees working to serve 5.9 million Palestinians in the region, including 13,000 in Gaza. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres immediately called for an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

Nine people dismissed

For one person, “no evidence was received by the OIOS to support the accusations” and, in the other nine cases, the evidence “is not sufficient to support the involvement of the officials”, said the deputy spokesman on Monday ‘Antonio Guterres , Farhan Haq. “As for the other nine cases, the evidence received [par le BSCI] shows that UNRWA staff may have been involved in the military attacks of October 7,” he added, assuring that these individuals would be removed.

“They cannot work for Unrwa,” the company’s boss, Philippe Lazzarini insisted in a press release. The agency’s staff must “respect” the principles of the UN “internally and externally”, he added, stressing the principle of “humanitarianism”.

An international spokesman for the Israeli army, Nadav Shoshani, responded Monday evening on X by saying that the agency has reached a “new low” with the announcement of the conclusions of the investigation. “It’s time for the world to see its true colors,” he added.

.@UNRWA 9 whose officers may have participated in the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
And no, this is not a guarantee “made” by us. This is straight from the @WE HAD yourself.

A UN investigation (yes, UN as in the first two letters of UNRWA) has concluded…

– LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) August 5, 2024

“Additional steps”

Maintaining that the investigations by the UN internal services are confidential, Farhan Haq said he had no further information on the content of the allegations and evidence. But “we have enough information to take the actions we are taking, which is the termination of these nine people,” he said. “Beyond this, we will need to consider the additional steps necessary to fully guarantee and evaluate” the information.

The researchers specifically traveled to Israel to check Israeli information and to Amman, Jordan, to receive information from UNRWA. But “as the information used by the Israeli authorities to support their accusations is in the hands of the Israelis, OIOS is not able to verify most of the information,” Farhan Haq emphasized.

For security reasons, UN investigators also did not meet with accused officials or potential witnesses, but received video-recorded statements from some of those involved, the UN said.

Following the accusations against UNRWA which have pushed major donors to suspend their financial participation, Antonio Guterres appointed an independent committee responsible for the “representative” assessment of the agency. In April, this committee, chaired by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, concluded that UNRWA had “constant non-compliance problems”. Many donors have announced the launch of their funding.