New Details Emerge of U.N. Employees’ Extensive Hamas Links

N ew details about the role of U.N. employees in the October 7 terrorist attack have come to light today in reports from media outlets that have gained access to an Israeli intelligence dossier presented to Western officials.

The leadership of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) revealed on Friday that Israel had presented evidence showing that twelve of its employees had participated in the October 7 attack, leading the U.S. State Department to pause funding for the agency as it awaits the result of an internal U.N. investigation.

But a dossier compiled by Israeli intelligence reportedly indicates that the scope of UNRWA staffers’ ties to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist organization that operates in Gaza, is broader than had previously been confirmed. An official told the Wall Street Journal that the dossier was based on information collected from cellphones, interrogations, and “sensitive signals intelligence.”

The dossier states that 1,200 of UNRWA’s 12,000 staffers in Gaza, the vast majority of whom are local hires, are tied to one of the two groups in some way, according to the Journal. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the six-page intelligence document identifies around 190 UNRWA staffers as “militants.”

The document reportedly provides additional information about the twelve employees who had allegedly joined the October 7 attacks. They included seven schoolteachers and a social worker. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a press release yesterday that nine of the twelve employees were “immediately identified and terminated” by UNRWA, one was confirmed dead, and the agency is determining the identity of the two others.

Some of the twelve played a direct role in the attacks on Israeli kibbutzim near Gaza where terrorists killed hundreds of civilians. According to Reuters, one of them participated in the infiltration of Be’eri while another joined the assault on Re’im, which is where the now infamous Nova Festival massacre took place.

Other UNRWA employees were reportedly involved in the kidnapping of Israelis during the terrorist attacks, the Wall Street Journal said, confirming earlier reports in Israeli media that UNRWA leaders had decried as “misinformation.”

Some analysts are unsurprised by the recent disclosures. Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior adviser Richard Goldberg told National Review that the U.S. doesn’t condition its funding for UNRWA on the vetting of its employees for counterterrorism purposes, that Washington turns a blind eye to terrorists on UNRWA’s payroll, and that the UNRWA does not even view Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah as terrorist groups.

The revelations in the Israeli intelligence dossier follows several previous scandals in which the pro-terrorism sympathies of UNRWA employees had come to light. UN Watch is expected to present evidence before Congress tomorrow revealing that several UNRWA employees had cheered on Hamas’s mass slaughter of Israelis on October 7 in a group messaging chat with 3,000 of the agency’s staff.

These developments come amid a burgeoning international controversy about several countries’ decisions to suspend aid to the agency as the U.N. investigates the allegations, with top U.N. officials, including Guterres, urging UNRWA’s donors to continue funding the organization. Guterres said in his press statement yesterday that while “the abhorrent alleged acts of these staff members must have consequences,” UNRWA employees who are operating under dangerous conditions “should not be penalized.” He urged countries that have suspended funding — which, in addition to the U.S., include the U.K., Finland, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, Iceland, Estonia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada — to “at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations.” Guterres spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said today that UNRWA funding is expected to run out by the end of February.

UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini took a more strident tone. Although he has said in recent statements that he is “horrified” by the “heinous allegations,” he also warned in a statement on Saturday that these countries’ aid cutoff would likely to worsen a “looming famine” in Gaza.

“It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an Agency and an entire community it serves because of allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially at a time of war, displacement and political crises in the region,” he said.

UNRWA now has few allies in Washington who are willing to support continued U.S. funding to the organization in the short term and has turned to boosting the few governments and commentators that remain in its corner. Over the weekend, the agency’s official account on X amplified posts by the governments of Ireland and Norway, which expressed concern about UNRWA employees’ alleged links to terrorism but announced that they would maintain funding.

The agency also boosted a post by anti-Israel commentator Mehdi Hasan, whose MSNBC show was canceled in the months following October 7. Hasan had commended the Norwegian government for making a distinction between “the alleged acts of a handful of UNRWA employees” and the agency as a whole.

Hasan, in the post boosted by UNRWA, added: “So cynical of the US and UK governments to join Israel’s post-ICJ anti-UNRWA (& anti-UN!) demonization campaign.”

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on social media that the U.S. should “restore aid immediately” and that the funding cutoff is “unacceptable.”

“Among an organization of 13,000 UN aid workers, risking the starvation of millions over grave allegations of 12 is indefensible,” she wrote.