MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UN agency staff in Gaza sacked for allegedly helping Hamas during Oct. 7 raid

“Anyone who betrays the fundamental principles of the UN also betrays the people it serves in Gaza,” Lazzarini said

The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) Friday sacked 7 of its workers for their alleged involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, raids by the terrorist organization Hamas into Israeli territory killing some 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage, which triggered the ongoing crisis given Tel Aviv's stern response.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement that Israeli authorities had supplied the “information on the alleged participation of several members” of the agency “in the horrific attacks of October 7.”

Therefore, and in a move “to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian aid” to the Palestinian population, Lazzarini immediately terminated the contracts of the UNRWA staff members mentioned in the intelligence reports and “an investigation to find out the truth.”

Lazzarini once again condemned the Oct. 7 events and called “for the unconditional and immediate return of all Israeli hostages” in the hands of Palestinian militias. He also insisted that “more than two million Gazans depend on the vital assistance that the agency has provided since the beginning of the war.”

“Anyone who betrays the fundamental principles of the UN also betrays the people it serves in Gaza, in the region, and elsewhere in the world,” he also noted.

In this scenario, the US State Department said it was halting all funding to UNRWA pending the investigation's outcome. The United States is the agency's largest donor, having contributed US$ 340 million in 2022.

UNRWA was created to provide care to millions of Palestinians across the Middle East whose families fled or were forced to abandon their property in what is now Israel in 1948.

The US had already cut all financial support to UNRWA under then-President Donald Trump but it was reinstated once Joseph Biden took office.

Canada too announced Friday it was cutting all additional funding to UNRWA. “Canada takes these reports very seriously and is working closely with UNRWA and other donors on this matter,” International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a statement after contacting Lazzarini.

International Court of Justice Magistrate Joan E Donoghue said Friday quoting UN reports on the matter that she was “deeply troubled” by the high number of deaths in Gaza and by the situation of children there.