UNRWA Chief Decries ‘Disinformation’ on Agency’s Hamas Links, Alleges Ill Treatment of Palestinian Detainees

The chief of the U.N.’s Hamas-linked special agency for Palestinians claimed that it is on the receiving end of a “disinformation” campaign, as the Israeli government seeks its dissolution.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, visited the U.N.’s headquarters in New York yesterday to seek support for his agency. After Israel said that over a dozen UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 massacre, the U.S. and several other donors withheld funding for it, causing what he referred to as a “financial crisis.”

While Lazzarini maintains that he took the Israeli findings seriously, quickly firing the relevant staffers in January, he also believes that “the agency is facing a fierce campaign, which aims to undermine its credibility.”

“But I have also to say that I’m rather concerned with its aim to end its operation. There have been quite a number of allegations of misinformation, disinformation, or at least unsubstantiated statements, which are only shared through social media or through the media, but not necessarily shared through the U.N.,” he told reporters yesterday evening.

He added that Israel is taking steps to seek the dismantling of the agency.

It’s not clear to what disinformation Lazzarini was referring, but numerous U.N. officials have said that Israel has not shared direct corroborating evidence of the UNRWA staffers’ Hamas links. Meanwhile, the scope of UNRWA’s alleged ties to terrorism has grown. Last month, Israeli officials said that they had identified 30 more UNRWA staffers who participated in the attack.

Yesterday was not the first time that Lazzarini has accused the media and UNRWA’s detractors of peddling misinformation. Last year, UNRWA accused an Israeli reporter of publishing “misinformation” after he posted on social media about a former Hamas hostage who claimed to have been held in an UNRWA teacher’s house. The agency complained that the reporter did not share information about the incident with its staff. Since then, additional information has come to light implicating teachers in the 10/7 attack. Yesterday, the Israeli government released an audio recording that it said was from a call on October 7 during which an UNRWA teacher talked about abducting an Israeli woman.

Lazzarini has previously condemned findings from the watchdog group U.N. Watch, which has released several reports showing that UNRWA textbooks and teachers have glorified Hamas terrorism. One recent report from U.N. Watch says that some of the agency’s teachers celebrated the October 7 attack as it occurred, in a group-message chat with some 3,000 UNRWA employees.

During the press conference, Lazzarini also confirmed that his agency had compiled a report finding ill treatment of hundreds of Palestinians who had been held by the Israel Defense Forces at several sites in Israel and were then released back into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The New York Times first brought the report’s existence to light yesterday, just ahead of Lazzarini’s meetings in New York. Among its findings, the Times reported, is that some of the detainees died while in Israeli custody.

Lazzarini said that the report, which UNRWA submitted to human-rights bodies, should not have been made public and described some of its findings, including that former detainees were pictured naked, subjected to psychological abuse, threatened with retribution, and forced to experience sleep deprivation.

Later, pressed by a reporter on how UNRWA has the capacity to review allegations against Israeli forces but not to find tunnels discovered recently by Israeli forces underneath the agency’s facilities, Lazzarini said that his agency serves a humanitarian function and does not have the expertise or mandate to find tunnels. He then called for an investigation into both Israeli strikes that have hit UNRWA facilities in Gaza and tunnels under the agency’s buildings.