UNRWA: Staff Participated in the October 7 Attack

On January 26, 2024, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini announced that the UN had received information from Israel alleging that 12 UNRWA employees had participated in the October 7 attack (9 were identified and fired immediately; 2 were dead; 1 identity was being clarified). He stated that he had immediately terminated the contracts of the implicated staff and requested an independent review.

UNRWA (the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) is the primary service provider in Gaza, running schools, healthcare, and social services. It employs approximately 13,000 staff in Gaza — almost entirely Gaza residents, many of whom are family members of the population UNRWA serves. UNRWA operates differently from the UNHCR: it registers Palestinian refugee status across generations and does not work toward resettlement.

Because Gaza has been governed by Hamas since 2007, UNRWA operations in Gaza have always occurred in an environment Hamas controls. Staff are hired from the local population; Hamas has influence over who is employed and who is not.

• Initially: Israel provided intelligence alleging 12 UNRWA staff participated in October 7 in specific roles; the allegations later expanded to 19.
• UN investigation (August 2024): The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services found evidence that 9 staff "may have been involved" (they were dismissed); evidence was insufficient in 9 cases and absent in 1. OIOS could not independently authenticate Israel's information.
• UNRWA's response: Lazzarini immediately terminated all 9 and declared he was "shocked and appalled" by the allegations.
• Subsequent assessments: Israeli intelligence assessed that ~10–12% of UNRWA's ~13,000 Gaza staff had some ties to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, based on intelligence analysis. UNRWA disputed this broader figure.
• Donor response: Within 24 hours, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Finland, and others suspended UNRWA funding pending the outcome of an independent review.
• U.S. Congress: The spending law signed in March 2024 barred U.S. funding to UNRWA until at least March 2025. Separately, in October 2024 Israel's Knesset passed laws banning UNRWA operations in Israeli sovereign territory.

An independent review led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna found:

• UNRWA has "robust" mechanisms to ensure neutrality — more than comparable UN agencies — but there are serious gaps in implementation (e.g. staff political expression, union politicization, textbook content).
• Israel had not yet provided supporting evidence for its claim that a significant number of UNRWA staff are members of terrorist organizations.
• It made 50 recommendations, which the Secretary-General accepted.

Colonna made 50 recommendations to strengthen neutrality, which UN Secretary-General Guterres accepted.

Separately from the October 7 revelations, the research organization IMPACT-se has documented over many years that UNRWA-administered school curriculum in Gaza contains:

• Antisemitic content, including incitement against Jews
• Glorification of "martyrs" who carried out attacks
• Maps of "Palestine" that erase Israel
• Promotion of armed resistance and "return" to pre-1948 lands

These curriculum findings predate October 7 and are documented in IMPACT-se reports going back to 2009.