Israel says ‘over 450 terrorists’ employed by UN agency for Palestinians

Israel’s military on Monday accused the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, of employing “over 450 terrorists” belonging to groups including Hamas.

The allegation heightens Israel’s campaign against the agency which is at the centre of efforts to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza, where aid groups warn of looming famine after nearly five months of war between Israel and Hamas.

“According to intelligence, over 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, mainly Hamas, are also employed by UNRWA,” a military statement said.

UNRWA employs around 30,000 people in the occupied territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – with about 13,000 staff in Gaza.

The military also released what it said were recordings of “a terrorist working as an Arabic teacher at an UNRWA school” who is “describing his entry into Israeli territory and stating that he is holding female Israeli hostages” during the October 7 attack by Hamas which started the war.

Agence France-Presse could not independently corroborate the claims made in the statement.

UNRWA has been at the centre of controversy since Israel accused about a dozen of its employees of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, which resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally.

Several countries – including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan – suspended funding to UNRWA following the Israeli allegations. But the European Commission, recognising steps taken by the UN, said on Friday it would release 50 million euros (US$54 million) in UNRWA funding.

Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, has said that Israel provided no evidence against his former employees.

The United Nations fired the staff accused by Israel and has begun an internal investigation.

Israel’s latest accusations against UNRWA came on the same day Lazzarini was set to defend his organisation’s work at the UN General Assembly.

In a letter to the Assembly’s president, Lazzarini said the agency’s ability to carry out its mandate is “seriously threatened.” He urged member states to “provide the political support necessary to sustain” it.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 30,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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Further escalating tensions, Israel’s foreign minister said on Monday that Israel had called its ambassador to the United Nations home for “immediate consultations” over what it said was a UN attempt to “silence” information of sexual violence by Hamas.

A team of United Nations experts reported that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred at several locations during the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

The team – led by UN special envoy for sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten – visited Israel between January 29 and February 14 on a mission intended to gather, analyse and verify information on sexual violence linked to the October 7 attacks.

“Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualised torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, was also gathered,” read the 24-page UN report.

Israel has criticised the UN for not responding quickly enough to victims’ accounts of rape and sexual assault allegedly committed during Hamas’s incursion into Israel.

Hamas has repeatedly rejected accusations of sexual violence.

“The mission team found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing,” the UN report said.

The team said a “fully-fledged investigation” would be required to establish the overall magnitude, scope and specific attribution for the sexual violence.

The UN team said it also received information from institutional and civil society sources and direct interviews, about “sexual violence against Palestinian men and women in detention settings, during house raids and at checkpoints” after October 7. The detention centres were in Israel.

The UN team said it raised the allegations with the Israeli Ministry of Justice and Military Advocate General, which said no complaints of sexual violence against members of the Israeli Defence Forces had been received.

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Israel has been critical of the UN response to the October 7 attacks. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said late last year that sexual violence committed on October 7 “must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted,” stressing: “Gender-based violence must be condemned. Anytime. Anywhere.”

“The UN claims to care about women, yet as we speak right now Israeli women are being raped and abused by Hamas terrorists. Where is the UN’s voice? Where is your voice?” said Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan at the 193-member UN General Assembly earlier on Monday.

“Hamas must face unrelenting pressure to end their sexual violence and release all of the hostages immediately,” he said.

Additional reporting by Reuters