UN says it fired nine staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the attack. October 7 attack carried out by Hamas against Israel.
The U.N. secretary-general’s office announced the decision in a brief statement to reporters Monday. It did not elaborate on the likely role of UNRWA employees in the attack. It said the nine people killed included seven employees who had been previously fired over the accusations.
A document from Israeli intelligence services shared in January with CBS News and several other Western media outlets have detailed allegations against a dozen U.N. employees. The document claims that seven staff members stormed Israeli territory in the October 7 attack, and that two of them allegedly participated in kidnappings.
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The U.N.’s internal watchdog has been investigating the agency since Israel in January accused 12 UNRWA staff members of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which militants killed 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others.
Israel’s allegations initially led major donor countries, including the United States, to suspend funding to UNRWA, the main agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza amid the 10-month war. The United States, the agency’s largest donor, said in January that it would temporarily suspend funding while the allegations against staff were investigated. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at the time that the United States was “extremely troubled” by the reports, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken told U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres that “all those who participated in these heinous attacks must be held accountable.”
The suspension of funding resulted in a liquidity shortage of about $450 million. Since then, all donor countries, except the United States, have decided to resume funding.
The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services said it relied on evidence provided by Israel in discussions with Israeli authorities. It added that it could not independently corroborate the evidence because it did not have direct access to it. Investigators also reviewed internal UNRWA information, including personnel files, emails and other communications data.
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She said she found sufficient evidence indicating the potential involvement of nine employees in the October 7 attack.
“I have decided that in the case of these nine remaining staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA,” the agency’s director-general, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement.
“The agency’s priority is to continue providing vital and essential services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and throughout the region, particularly in the face of ongoing war, instability and the risk of regional escalation,” said Lazzarini, who also said he condemned the October 7 attack.
In nine other cases, there was insufficient evidence and in one case there was no evidence to indicate involvement.
