Following a probe by the UN oversight physique, 9 people have been fired, spokesperson says.
The United Nations says 9 staff of UNRWA, its company for Palestinian refugees, “could have been concerned” within the October 7 assault on southern Israel by Hamas, including that they’ve been fired.
“We now have enough info with a purpose to take the actions that we’re taking – which is to say, the termination of those 9 people,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq stated on Monday.
Haq stated the UN Aid and Works Company for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) might want to consider any additional steps to “totally corroborate”.
Haq was talking after the UN Workplace of Inside Oversight Providers (OIOS) accomplished its investigation into the allegations earlier this year by Israel {that a} complete of 19 UNRWA staff had been concerned within the assault.
“OIOS made findings in relation to every of the 19 UNRWA workers members alleged to have been concerned within the assaults,” Haq stated.
“In a single case, no proof was obtained by OIOS to help the allegations of the workers member’s involvement, whereas in 9 different circumstances, the proof obtained by OIOS was inadequate to help the workers member’s involvement,” he stated.
Haq stated all of the 9 people who the investigation concluded could have been concerned had been males.
He didn’t give particulars of what they could have finished, however stated: “For us, any participation within the assaults is an amazing betrayal of the type of work that we’re imagined to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian individuals.”
Reacting to the information, Israel’s military stated UNRWA had hit a “new degree of low”.
“Your ‘aid’ company has formally stooped to a brand new degree of low, and it’s time that the world sees your true face,” Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani, the military’s worldwide spokesperson, stated on X.
Following the Israeli allegations, many governments, together with high donor america, abruptly suspended funding to the agency, threatening its efforts to ship support in Gaza. A number of international locations have since resumed funds.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 assaults, which resulted within the deaths of 1,139 individuals, largely civilians, and greater than 200 others taken captives.
Since then, Israel’s army marketing campaign has killed at the very least 39,550 Palestinians in Gaza, in keeping with the territory’s well being ministry.
UNRWA, which has supplied essential aid for Palestinian refugees since 1949, has lengthy been criticised by Israel.
Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying that greater than 450 UNRWA workers had been army operatives in Gaza “terrorist” teams. UNRWA employs 32,000 individuals throughout its space of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza.
UNWRA stated in March that some staff launched into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the company has Hamas hyperlinks and that workers took half within the October 7 assaults.
Earlier this yr, UNRWA’s chief Philippe Lazzarini known as for Israel to “cease its marketing campaign” towards the organisation, citing “outrageous” assaults on its staff, amenities and operations.