On 3rd February, a White House official informed that the United States President Donald Trump is expected to terminate the country’s involvement in the United Nations Human Rights Council and to continue to suspend funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The development, which could transpire as soon as today, coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit to Washington.
Notably, Netanyahu has long criticized UNRWA, accusing the organization of inciting anti-Israel sentiment and its employees of being part of “terrorist activities against the nation.” Trump also halted funding for the outfit during his first term in office, which ran from 2017 to 2021. He raised concerns about its value along with stressing that Palestinians must consent to a renewal of peace negotiations with the Jewish state and also proposed reforms for the same.
Halfway through its tenure, the first Trump administration also resigned from the 47-member Human Rights Council, citing what it termed as a lack of reform and persistent prejudice against Israel. The Geneva-based body does not currently have the United States as a member. The country was re-elected and served a 2022–2024 term under Democrat leader and former President Joe Biden.
Hamas held hostages at UNRWA facilities
UNWRA has frequently been associated with Hamas, particularly since the 7th October 2023 terrorist attack, which was led by Hamas and left over 1,200 people dead in Israel and 251 others were taken hostage. Their close association recently gained attention after a 28-year-old British-Israeli woman, who had been kept captive by Hamas in Gaza for 15 months, revealed that she was being held at UN facilities, reigniting debate about UNRWA’s involvement with Hamas. Emily Damari, who was freed earlier this month unveiled that she was previously detained by Hamas at UNRWA sites.
She had a phone conversation with the United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier this month and added that despite having gunshot wounds on her hand and leg, she was not given access to medical care. It caused her to lose two fingers.
Her mother stated, “It’s a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now,” as they requested the UK Prime Minister to exert pressure on UNRWA and Hamas to grant the Red Cross access to the remaining 82 hostages in the region.
Thank you @Keir_Starmer for calling us today and all your support in getting Emily home. Hamas held Emily in @UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. It's a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now. pic.twitter.com/K5aZybh0K2
— Mandy Damari 🎗🤟 (@DamariMandy) January 31, 2025
Philippe Lazzarin, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, however, countered the allegations and remarked, “Claims that hostages have been held in UNRWA premises are deeply disturbing & shocking. We take any such allegations extremely seriously. We have repeatedly called for independent investigations into any credible claims of misuse & disregard of UN premises by Palestinian armed militants, including Hamas. UNRWA was forced to vacate all its installations in the north of Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, on 13 October 2023 & has, since then, had no control over them.”
I am relieved about the release of hostages, including that of Ms. Damari & I hope all others will also soon return safely to their families.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) January 31, 2025
Claims that hostages have been held in UNRWA premises are deeply disturbing & shocking. We take any such allegations extremely…
Notably, UNRWA has been accused of similar charges earlier despite their repeated denials. The agency has long been accused by the Israeli government of allowing Hamas to infiltrate its organization and exploit its facilities for military objectives. Israel prohibited the body from operating on its territory after the 7th October terror attack. Israel’s ban on UNRWA’s activities in the country came into force on 30th January, 2024. The ban also prohibited Israeli officials from dealing with UNRWA staff in territories controlled by the country.
Concerns had been further raised by evidence that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) discovered. They reported to have found arms hidden in UNRWA facilities, and tunnels built by Hamas beneath its schools. Israel charged that UNRWA staff members participated directly in the 7th October terror attack. More importantly, nine of the 19 UNRWA personnel that were questioned “may have been involved” in the mayhem, according to an independent United Nations probe.
Moreover, experts especially in Israel and the US, contended that rather than assimilating Palestinian refugees into host nations, UNRWA’s existence perpetuates their status as refugees. UNRWA has even been accused of encouraging antisemitic material in its curricula.
Israeli authorities argued that UNRWA’s departure won’t have a major effect on relief efforts because it only has a small role in distributing humanitarian aid. As part of the ceasefire deal, 4,200 humanitarian aid trucks continue to enter Gaza each week. Trump reconfirmed the decision to stop US assistance to UNRWA as the country’s envoy Dorothy Shea blasted the organisation for “exaggerating the effects” of the Israeli response during her speech to the UN Security Council, calling such statements as “irresponsible and dangerous.”
UNRWA’s alleged role in the 7th October massacre
In January 2024, the charges surfaced after Israel notified UNRWA that 12 employees were involved in the attack on Israel. The UN body terminated the employment of the accused staffers after the allegations came to light.
“The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on 7th October. To protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have decided to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation to establish the truth without delay. Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” Philippe Lazzarini conveyed in a statement.
Lazzarini added, “UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7th October and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages and their safe return to their families. These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the agency has been providing since the war began. Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world.”
Israel then informed the UN of seven further cases, two in April and five in March, of UNRWA’s involvement. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also asked the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to look into the allegations. Additionally, he designated a review team to carry out a second evaluation of UNRWA to ascertain if the organization was making every effort to maintain impartiality and to address claims of grave violations when they materialize.
The group, led by Catherine Colonna, a former French foreign minister, released its findings in April 2024. According to Lazzarini, UNRWA is totally committed to the panel’s recommendations and has already begun putting them into practice. OIOS stated that it had probed the charges made against 19 UNRWA employees and dismissed 10 of them, including one for lack of proof and nine for inadequate evidence.
“In one case, no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member’s involvement, while in nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff members’ involvement. The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interests of the agency,” UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq stated. “I have decided that in the case of these remaining nine staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA. All contracts of these staff members will be terminated in the interest of the agency,” announced Lazzarini.
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations responded, “The UN investigation, which focused solely on 19 UNRWA employees, is a disgrace. It is too little, too late – ignoring thousands of agency employees involved to various degrees in Hamas’s terror activities. Israel provided the UN with detailed information regarding over 100 UNRWA employees who were direct members of the terrorist organization Hamas. Despite Israel’s extensive cooperation with, and provision of information to, the UN, its investigation’s conclusions are yet another disgrace.”
“It still refuses to recognize the reality of its agency and if that wasn’t enough, the UN Secretary General recently chose to award UNRWA’s Gaza division his prestigious Secretary General’s Award for 2023 – the very group with such terror ties. The Secretary General must resign, and UNRWA must be shut down. Israel should act swiftly to outlaw UNRWA, declare it a terrorist organization, expel its leaders from Israel and deny them further entry.” he demanded.
Interestingly, Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, later declared that Israel had barred Guterres from visiting the nation, pointing out that he was “backing” Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthi extremists.
Hamas tunnels under UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters
The Israeli military shared that the Hamas concealed one of its most important assets beneath the Gaza Strip offices of UNRWA. Complete with an electrical room, industrial battery power banks, and living quarters for the terrorists running the computer servers, the underground data center was constructed just beneath the spot where Israel would neither search nor consider launching an airstrike.
These findings were found within @UNRWA facilities:
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 10, 2024
Acting on ISA intelligence, the forces discovered a tunnel shaft near an UNRWA school, leading to an underground terrorist tunnel beneath UNRWA's main headquarters. The forces found electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel… pic.twitter.com/n5EWJpyI4o
Unsurprisingly, the outfit repeatedly refuted Israeli allegations that the Jewish country had uncovered a vast system of Hamas tunnels beneath hospitals, schools and other public buildings in the past. A “tunnel shaft” close to a school run by the ‘humanitarian organization’ was located during operations in Gaza City, according to the Israeli Army and the Shin Bet security agency.
“The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’s military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip,” Israel revealed.
“Electrical infrastructure in the tunnel – 700 metres (765 yards) long and 18 metres deep – connected to the agency’s headquarters indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity,” they added. Reporters descended to the concrete-lined tunnel by entering a pit next to a school. According to the army lieutenant-colonel in charge of the operation, they passed beneath UNRWA Headquarters after twenty minutes of traveling through the oppressively hot, tortuous, and small tube.
The Israeli military noted that the tunnel split at certain points, exposing side rooms. Steel safes, that had been opened and emptied, were present in an office area. There were industrial battery stacks in one chamber and computer servers in another. “Everything is conducted from here. All the energy for the tunnels, which you walked through them are powered from here. This is one of the central commands of the intelligence. This place is one of the Hamas intelligence units, where they commanded most of the combat,” the lieutenant-colonel mentioned.
Furthermore, he stated that Hamas seemed to have fled in response to the Israeli assault, proactively cutting off communications cables that he had seen passing through the basement floor of UNRWA headquarters. He voiced, “We know that they (Hamas) have people working in UNRWA. We want every international organization to work in Gaza. That is not a problem. Our problem is the Hamas.”
According to the joint statement, records and a cache of weaponry found within the UN property “confirmed that the offices had in fact also been used by Hamas terrorists.” IDF seized a number of intelligence assets and many blast doors from there. Large amounts of weaponry, such as rifles, ammunition, grenades, and explosives, were also found stashed in the building’s offices.
However, the UN body alleged that Israeli forces ordered its employees to evacuate its Gaza city facility as the bombing in the area intensified. “We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there,” it claimed. The compound was last examined in September 2023, based on a statement. On the other hand, UNRWA knew the tunnel existed and had turned down an invitation to inspect it, per a spokesman for the Israeli government.
Anti-semitism in UNRWA classrooms
UNRWA has failed to remove inflammatory information that glorifies terrorism and demonizes Israel from its school curriculum, according to a report by an Israeli nonprofit organisation in 2023. Although it had previously promised to remove such content and implement a zero-tolerance policy for employees who incite racism or murder, the report, which was released by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) in collaboration with the UN Watch NGO (non-governmental organization) uncovered 47 new instances of provocation by UNRWA teachers and staff.
“Regularly call for the murder of Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite antisemitism,” IMPACT-se reported in a statement about the agency’s employees and schools that educate Palestinian children in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and other places. A UNRWA math instructor in Syria promoted a terrorist who killed four civilians and a police officer in a shooting attack in the city of Bnei Brak in March 2022 in a Facebook post, in one of the incidents covered in the report.
The terrorist Diaa Hamarsheh was termed a “martyr” whose name ought to “remain in letters of fire, might, and magnificence forever.” Another UNRWA teacher, in Lebanon, called Ibrahim al-Nabulsi of the Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade “the noblest of souls” in a different social media post. He was eliminated during an Israeli operation in 2022. At the terrorist’s burial, there were calls for people to follow in the “martyr’s” footsteps.
A picture of Adolf Hitler dozing was shared online by a Syrian UNRWA staffer, who urged the Nazi leader to awaken because “there are still some people you need to burn.” It appeared that other UNRWA staff members endorsed the message. It “captured evidence taken from inside UNRWA classrooms, showing the teaching of these materials, and revealing how UNRWA’s own content directs students to study specific hateful passages in Palestinian textbooks – which the organization claims teachers are told to skip,” according to the report.
Middle school boys were urged to seek martyrdom in one classroom in Gaza. A reading comprehension assignment that was assigned to the students in December 2022 praised a Palestinian firebombing attack on an Israeli bus as a “barbecue party.” In a further instance, a map bearing the name Palestine was shown in a UNRWA classroom along with Israeli areas like Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Haifa as Palestinian cities. 133 UNRWA educators and staff were found to have promoted hate and violence on social media and 82 others connected to 30 of the organization’s schools had participated in “drafting, supervising, approving, printing, and distributing hateful content to students.”
“Educators who incite hate and violence are removed from their posts around the world,” stated UN Watch Director Hillel Neuer who added, “Yet UNRWA, despite proclaiming ‘zero tolerance’ for incitement, systematically employs preachers of anti-Jewish hate and terrorism. Let us be clear: the problem is not the social media posts, but rather the employment of teachers who preach antisemitism and terrorism.”
He called on UNRWA to uphold its declared zero-tolerance policy and fire any staff members who are shown to have encouraged bigotry or homicide. He also demanded that UNRWA employees to be the subject of an independent inquiry concerning “systemic incitement to antisemitism and terrorism.” A commission to inquire the misuse of European Union aid provided to Palestine was also established as a result of the startling IMPACT-se findings.
Gaza schools run by Hamas men employed by UNRWA
“UNRWA has taken no meaningful steps to address the glorification of violence or antisemitic rhetoric in these schools,” per a 2024 IMPACT-se report, which also highlighted that many of its employees who have taken part in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad activities continue to be on the payroll of the UN agency. UNRWA in the Gaza Strip employed more than 10% of its senior education professionals and principals who were from Hamas.
The assessment, which included data from the Israel Defense Forces, described actions at five schools in Gaza that it asserted were operated by members of terror groups who simultaneously held high educational officer positions at UNRWA.
The assessment listed: Al Zeitoun Boys Preparatory and Elementary Schools, whose principal Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh was a squad commander in Hamas Gaza City Brigade; the Al-Maghazi Boys Preparatory School B, where both the principal Khaled Said Mustafa Al-Massri and deputy principal Ahmad Samir Mahmoud El Khatib are squad commanders in Hamas Khan Younis Brigade; the Al-Mughraqa Boys Elementary School, whose principal, Raed Khaled Abu Mukhadda is a Hamas operative in the Deir al-Balah Battalion; Nuseirat Boys Preparatory C School, headed by Mahmoud Faez Sarraj, a Hamas military wing operative in the Nuseirat Battalion; and Ahmad Abdel Aziz Boys Preparatory School, led by Mahmoud Ahmad Hamdan, a Hamas member who openly promoted the violent “March of Return” border Gaza border protests.
A blackboard in a 5th-grade classroom at the Al-Zeitoun School had a picture of Dalal Mughrabi, one of the perpetrators of the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, which ended the lives of 38 Israelis, with text calling her a “fighting leader” as well as “hero” was one of the examples in the report. The watchdog underscored materials, including maps, that erased the Jewish state or referred to Israeli cities as Palestinian, and stated content at the Al-Maghazi School addressed a firebombing attack on an Israeli bus as a “barbecue party.” “Liberating the Al-Aqsa Mosque and making sacrifices for it is an obligation for all Muslims,” read another statement on an exam paper featuring the UNRWA logo.
The Jordanian Waqf has administrative authority over the Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Hamas dubbed their 7th October attack in southern Israel the “Al-aqsa Flood.” Many Palestinian terrorists declared that their motivation stemmed from alleged concerns over the mosque. IMPACT-se conveyed that, “a virtual self-evaluation exam created by UNRWA’s Gaza education department gratuitously inserts content promoting hatred of Israel into grammar exercises.” As in previous reports, it suggested that in contrast to the UN agency’s statements, the number of individuals who have engaged in terrorist activities is not “a few isolated cases” and its connections to terrorism are “endemic.”
“This latest IMPACT-se report emphasizes that by promoting violence and demonizing Israel, UNRWA schools in Gaza foster the kind of hatred that fuelled the atrocities of 7th October 2023. These latest revelations about Hamas’s central role in UNRWA schools further reinforce that its educational system is not fit for purpose,” it emphasised. Marcus Sheff, CEO of IMPACT-se, stated that the results were “deeply concerned, although not surprised.”
“UNRWA has repeatedly failed to act, despite mounting evidence and repeated warnings of the deep influence of terror groups on UNRWA’s schools. This is not just about accountability, but about protecting young minds from an education that fuels hatred and extremism,” he expressed per an IMPACT-se’s statement.
With headquarters in Israel and the United Kingdom, the group has been keeping an eye on school curricula worldwide, with a special emphasis on the Middle East, since the late 1990s. For years, IMPACT-se has been highlighting cases about what it insists is anti-Israel indoctrination in Palestinian textbooks, including as the celebration of violent jihad, martyrdom and the systematic erasure of Israel’s existence.
UNRWA’s deliberate negligence and mockery of serious concerns
Israeli officials also gave a list of 100 UNRWA officials to “The New York Times.” A significant portion of the agency’s workforce, school personnel provide a window into the evidence supporting Israel’s assertions. The most strong proof of the scope of Hamas’s participation within UNRWA schools had been provided by the confiscated documents and interviews with current and former UNRWA staff, residents and former students in Gaza. Even when Israel issued written warnings that the educators were terrorists, UNRWA continued to employ them in a number of situations.
Ahmad al-Khatib was a deputy principal of a United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees elementary school in Gaza but according to papers, he was viewed by Hamas military branch as something quite different: an infantryman based in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza. The Qassam Brigades, the military wing, maintained detailed records of its combatants, monitoring the weaponry they were provided and routinely assessing everything from their devotion to their fitness. Among them was al-Khatib, who has worked for the UN body since 2013.
He was a specialist in ground combat, had been handed at least a dozen weapons, including a Kalashnikov and hand grenades and held the position of squad commander, based on secret internal Hamas records that the Israeli government revealed. He was one of at least 24 members of UNRWA who belonged to the terrorist groups and worked in 24 separate schools. The agency was in charge of 288 schools in Gaza before the war, spread across 200 distinct building sites.
According to the records, the majority were principals or deputy principals, who were the highest ranking officials at the schools. Others were teachers and school counselors. Records demonstrated that nearly all of the educators with ties to Hamas served as combatants in the Qassam Brigades. During their operation in Gaza, the Israeli military also reported to have seized several documents.
Israel stated that the structures were lawful targets under international law since Hamas used them for military reasons and to hide its terrorists. Secret Hamas military blueprints illustrated how the Qassam Brigades viewed schools and other public buildings as “the best obstacles to protect the resistance” during conflict with Israel. Two schools in particular were highlighted as being intended to serve combatants to conceal and store weapons.
It seemed that the group’s influence in education expanded beyond of Gaza. Hamas declared that its leader in Lebanon, a former head of UNRWA’s teachers union there and a school principal, had passed away. Interviews with locals in Gaza unveiled that the existence of Hamas agents in UNRWA classrooms was a well-known fact. It was unclear from the documents if all 24 educators took part in direct combat, but at least one-third of them were provided with the means to do so, according to the data and interviews.
Mustafa al-Farra and Ayman al-Alami were identified as UNRWA teachers in Jabalia and Khan Younis, respectively. Israel has recovered personnel documents from several Qassam Brigades that independently identify them as combatants. Furthermore, according to documents on the letterhead of the military wing, al-Farra was given an AK-47, and in 2023 al-Alami took part in a training program for Hamas rocket-launching.
When UNRWA learned in 2011 that one of its educators, Naji Abu Aziz, was a Hamas terrorist, it did start an investigation, but stated in a letter to the foreign ministry at the time that it required additional proof. The ministry retorted that disclosing such details could endanger intelligence sources. Abu Aziz was listed in documents later taken by the Israeli forces as a member of military manufacturing department’s chemistry unit of Hamas. The possible connection between him and Hamas also came to light in 2020 via a Telegram account. A captured Hamas verified the same and recommended that the account be hacked and closed.
Tunnels beneath or next to the agency’s schools did not result in the firing of Hamas members. A tunnel under the Maghazi Prep B Boys School in central Gaza was spotted by UNRWA in 2017 after which it claimed to have moved to close exits and allegedly launched a protest with Hamas. According to the seized documents, Khaled al-Masri, the school’s principal, was a Hamas member who was given a handgun and an assault rifle. He was also seen on Facebook standing in front of a Hamas banner. According to UNRWA, he was still employed there but was probed for a social media infraction.
According to Israeli officials, their soldiers raided a subterranean shaft adjacent to another UNRWA school that led to a weaponized tunnel that was almost half a mile long and ran beneath the school. Mohammed Shuwaideh, the principle, was listed in the seized Hamas documents as a deputy squad commander with engineering experience. However, Lazzarini argued that the principle could not be implicated just because a shaft was nearby but Shuwaideh was placed on administrative leave later.
“The UN has been unable and or unwilling to eliminate Hamas militants and their supporters, as well as those from other terrorist groups, from their ranks. UNRWA hiring practices and the makeup of the labor pool from which UNRWA draws its employees suggests to me that the numbers the Israelis are talking about are probably pretty close to the truth,” James Lindsay, who served as UNRWA’s general counsel until 2007 stated.
The Palestinian refugee crisis has been sustained by Israel’s long-standing antagonistic relationship with UNRWA, which it charges has allowed the status to be passed down through the generations. Over the past ten years, Israel has become more frustrated with UNRWA in Jerusalem after discovering that the terror organization Hamas, which rules Gaza, has roots in the organization’s infrastructure. This rage has reached a fever pitch since the 7th October Hamas attack, in which some UNRWA employees were discovered to have taken part, including in the kidnapping and murdering of Israeli victims.
The Hamas Nukhba commander who directed the murder and abduction of Israelis from a roadside bomb shelter close to Kibbutz Reim on 7th October was killed in an Israeli attack, according to UNRWA, which confirmed that the individual had worked for the organization since July 2022.
After Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, UNRWA was founded in 1949. Millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the surrounding Arab nations of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan allegedly get aid, healthcare and education from it. It is just one of two UN agencies that deal with refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is in charge of all other refugees worldwide, whereas UNRWA only caters to Palestinians.
The UN has stated time after time that UNRWA is the only option while Israel charged that other agencies which are less tainted by terrorism can execute the same work. Since Donald Trump regained office, the agency and its corrupted past have once again come under scrutiny due to recent events.
