In a dossier provided last week to the United States government, Israel accused a dozen employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that left an estimated 1,200 dead in Israel. On Friday, the U.N. said it had fired several employees in response to the allegations. So far, 11 countries — including the U.S. — have frozen funding to UNRWA, the main aid group responsible for schooling, sheltering and feeding hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip, where the reported death toll now stands at more than 26,000. Here are the key facts you need to understand the controversy.
What is UNRWA?
UNRWA was established in 1949 by the U.N. General Assembly to provide relief to all Palestinian refugees displaced by the 1948 war that followed the establishment of Israel, and subsequent conflicts. A subsidiary body of the U.N., it provides education, health care and social services in addition to basic food supplies. UNRWA is one of the largest employers in Gaza, with 13,000 people on staff — most of them Palestinians.
What is Israel claiming?
According to reports by the Associated Press and the New York Times — both of which obtained the dossier in question — Israel has alleged that 10 of the UNRWA employees had ties to Hamas; that an 11th employee was affiliated with the militant group known as Islamic Jihad; that seven UNRWA employees stormed into Israeli territory on Oct. 7; that one abducted a woman from Israel; and that another brought the body of a dead Israeli soldier to Gaza after distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attacks. In total, Israeli intelligence has determined that at least 190 UNRWA workers could be considered operatives of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, according to the document.
What evidence has Israel provided?
Israeli intelligence says it based its allegations on cellphone data showing movements inside Israel on Oct. 7, calls inside Gaza to discuss the Hamas attacks and text messages ordering UNRWA workers to report to specific locations on Oct. 7 — including one that told an employee to come equipped with rocket-propelled grenades that had been stored in his home, according to the Times.
Other Western governments have yet to independently verify Israel’s claims, but “American officials say they found them credible enough to warrant suspending aid,” according to the Times. As for the U.N., it condemned “the abhorrent alleged acts” and fired nine of the accused workers. Two others are reportedly dead, and the last is still being identified as part of an ongoing investigation by the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services.
How have the U.S. and other countries responded?
As of Monday afternoon, 11 countries had suspended payments to UNRWA in response to the allegations: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Estonia and Japan. That represents at least $363 million of UNRWA’s $1.6 billion budget.
"The United States is extremely troubled ... [and] has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement last week. "There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7."
How has the U.N. responded?
In addition to firing the accused employees, the U.N. has announced a "comprehensive and independent" review of UNRWA — a process that will help "establish the truth without delay," according to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. Lazzarini added that "any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror" would potentially face criminal prosecution.
Yet Lazzarini also warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe if relief money is withheld at a time when a quarter of Gaza's population is facing starvation. The vast majority of Gazans depend on UNRWA for some form of aid, and its schools alone provide shelter to more than a million residents.
“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. “The lives of people in Gaza depend on this support, and so does regional stability.”
What is Israel’s relationship with UNRWA?
Israel sees UNRWA as an obstacle to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because it “prevents Palestinian refugees from integrating into new communities and stokes their dreams of one day returning to what is now Israel,” according to the Times — “a goal that Israel says it will never allow.” And even before leveling its latest allegations, Israel has long insisted that Gaza’s UNRWA is under the influence of Hamas, which it claims uses the agency’s facilities to store weapons and launch attacks — accusations UNRWA has repeatedly denied.
Does this have any connection to the genocide allegations against Israel?
On Friday — the same day Israel’s UNRWA allegations surfaced — the U.N.’s top judicial body issued an interim ruling on accusations of genocide against Israel. After South Africa requested “provisional measures” to stop Israel’s military campaign while the International Court of Justice considered the broader genocide charge, the court ordered Israel to prevent acts banned under the 1948 Genocide Convention; to prohibit and punish statements that incite such acts; to allow more aid into Gaza; and to report back on its progress in a month.