UNRWA sued by Israeli victims of Hamas’ Oct 7 attack

NEW YORK - The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency was sued on June 24 by dozens of Israelis who accused it of aiding and abetting Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel.

In a complaint filed with the US District Court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) spent more than a decade helping Hamas build what they called the “terror infrastructure” and personnel needed for the attack.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages for what they allege was UNRWA’s “aiding and abetting Hamas’ genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture”, which they said violated international law and the federal Torture Victim Protection Act.

While many of the accusations have been made by Israel’s government, the plaintiffs want UNRWA held liable for allegedly funnelling more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) from a Manhattan bank account to benefit Hamas, including for weapons, explosives and ammunition.

“Virtually all the money UNRWA has spent in assisting Hamas to build up its terror infrastructure in Gaza came from UNRWA’s New York City bank account at JPMorgan Chase and came into that account in the first place as a result of donations solicited in New York as a result of defendants’ travel to New York to solicit donors face to face there,” according to lawsuit.

The money was wired from New York, where the agency has an office, to the West Bank, where financial institutions loaded some of that cash onto trucks to be driven across Israel to Gaza. The suit said some of those dollars ended up funding the military operations of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has controlled Gaza for nearly 20 years and has pledged to erase the Jewish state.

UNRWA declined to comment, saying it has yet to be served with the lawsuit.

The agency has said it takes accusations of staff misconduct seriously, and terminated 10 staff members accused by Israel of involvement in the attack. Two others died, it has said.

UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and several current and former agency officials are also defendants.

The plaintiffs include 101 people who survived the attack or had relatives who were killed. They accuse UNRWA of providing “safe harbour” to Hamas in its facilities, and letting its schools use Hamas-approved textbooks to indoctrinate Palestinian children to support violence towards and hatred of Jews and Israel.

They also said the attack was “foreseeable” to the defendants, regardless of whether they knew the specifics.

“We are talking about people who have been killed, lost family members and lost homes,” Mr Avery Samet, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in an interview. “We expect damages will be substantial.”

UNRWA has been sued several times since the attacks, with some cases claiming that the agency has abetted Hamas and others attempting to cut off UNRWA’s funding. The case filed on June 24 goes further, describing how the plaintiffs believe agency money ended up in the hands of Hamas and how the terrorists used its resources in the attack on Israel.

The suit says that in Gaza, unlike other places the agency operates, UNRWA pays its 13,000 local employees in US dollars that must be changed into shekels, the Israeli currency that is used in Gaza, by Hamas-affiliated money-changers who take a cut for the organisation.

The lawsuit faces many hurdles, particularly the question of whether a treaty affords the UN officials immunity. But if the case proceeds, it could allow other victims of Hamas attacks to seek damages from the UN. Even if it fails, the suit could pressure nations donating money to UNRWA to reassess their support.

Warning from UNRWA chief

The Oct 7 attack by Hamas militants

killed 1,200 people, while about 250 other people were abducted, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave have said.

Several countries including the

United States halted funding to UNRWA

after Israel alleged that staff members were involved in Hamas’ attack. Hamas is deemed a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union.

In April, Norway called on international donors to resume funding UNRWA, after a UN-authorised independent review found that Israel had not provided evidence supporting its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff were members of terrorist groups.

On June 24, Mr Lazzarini urged resistance to Israeli efforts to disband UNRWA.

“If we do not push back, other UN entities and international organisations will be next, further undermining our multilateral system,” he said at a meeting of the agency’s advisory commission in Geneva.

Established in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides schooling, healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is funded almost entirely by UN member states. REUTERS, AFP, NYTIMES