UN fires 9 staff possibly involved in Oct 7 attack on Israel

NEW YORK – Nine employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) may have been involved

in the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel,

and they will be fired, the United Nations said on Aug 5.

“For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the seventh of October attacks,” UN Secretary-General deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said

He was referring to findings of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which he said had completed its investigation into the alleged involvement of 19 UNRWA employees in the attacks.

“OIOS made findings in relation to each of the 19 UNRWA staff members alleged to have been involved in the attacks,” he said.

“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,” he said.

Mr Haq said all the nine individuals whom the investigation concluded may have been involved were men.

He did not give details of what they may have done, but said: “For us, any participation in the attacks is a tremendous betrayal of the sort of work that we are supposed to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian people.”

The United Nations launched the investigation after Israel charged that 12 UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led Oct 7 attacks, which triggered the Gaza war.

Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying more than 450 UNRWA staff were military operatives in Gaza terrorist groups. UNRWA employs 32,000 people across its area of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza.

UNWRA said in March that some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by the Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the Oct 7 attacks. REUTERS