Kidnappings, murders and transportation of weapons: details emerge on UN employees accused of helping Hamas in the attack

One is accused kidnap a woman. It is said that another ammunition distributed. It has been described that a third participated in the kibbutz massacre where 97 people died. And they were all said to be employees of the United Nations humanitarian agency that educates, houses and feeds hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The accusations are contained a record provided to the United States government detailing Israel’s claims against a dozen UN Relief and Works Agency employees who it says played a role in Hamas attacks on Israel on or after October 7.

The UN said this on Friday had fired several employees after being informed of the allegations. Foror little was known about the allegations until The New York Times reviewed the dossier on Sunday.

The accusations are what they brought in eight countries, including the United States, to suspend some aid payments to UNRWA, as the agency is known, even as the war throws Gaza’s Palestinians into a desperate situation. More than 26,000 people died there and nearly 2 million are displaced, according to Gaza and United Nations officials.

UNRWA workers were blamed help Hamas organize the attack that sparked the war in Gaza, or to help in the days that followed. About 1,200 people in Israel were killed that day, Israeli officials say, and about 240 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described himself on Sunday as “horrified by these accusations” and pointed out that nine gods 12 employees reported They had been fired. But Guterres pleaded with nations that had suspended aid payments reconsider. UNRWA It is one of the largest employers in Gazawith a workforce of 13,000 people, mostly Palestinians.

Asked about Israel’s accusations on Sunday, UNRWA said: two of the 12 employees had diedbut could provide no further information while the UN Office for Internal Oversight Services was still investigating.

Credible accusations

Two Western officials confirmed on condition of anonymity that they had been informed the contents of the file in recent days, but said they had not been able to verify the details. While the United States has yet to corroborate Israel’s claims, American officials say so They found them quite credible sufficient to justify the suspension of aid.

The Times verified the identity of one of the 12 employees, a warehouse manager, whose social media profile lists him as a UNRWA employee and shows him wearing U.N.-branded clothing.

The Israeli dossier, presented to the American authorities on Friday, lists names and jobs of UNRWA employees and the charges against them.

The dossier stated that Israeli intelligence officers had established the movements of six men inside Israel on October 7. based on their phones; others had been monitored while They made phone calls inside Gaza during which, according to the Israelis, their involvement in the Hamas attack was discussed.

Three more They received SMS with the order to report to the collection points on October 7, one had already been said bring the rocket grenades stored in his house, according to the file.

The Israelis described 10 employees as members of Hamas, the militant group that controlled Gaza at the time of the Oct. 7 attack. Another was said to be affiliated with another militant group, Islamic Jihad.

However, it was also said that seven of the accusedThey were teachers from UNRWA schools, who taught students subjects such as mathematics and Arabic. Two others worked in schools in other capacities. The remaining three were described as a clerk, a social worker and the warehouse manager.

The most detailed allegations in the file concern a school counselor in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, accused of collaborating with his son to kidnap a woman from Israel.

A social worker from Nuseirat, central Gaza, She is accused of helping transport the body of an Israeli soldier who died in Gazaas well as distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attack.

The Israeli accusations come amid decades of friction with UNRWA. Since 1949, the agency he took care of the families of the Palestinians fled or forced to abandon their homes during the wars linked to the creation of the State of Israel.

The organization provides vital help to more than five million Palestinian refugees missing across the Middle East, whose future and status have never been resolved despite years of negotiations.

But for his critics, including many Israelis, Agency is an obstacle to conflict resolution. Their mere existence, they say, prevents Palestinian refugees from integrating into new communities fuels his dreams of one day returning to what is now Israel, a goal Israel says it will never allow. And in Gaza, Israel claims, UNRWA has fallen under the influence of Hamas, a claim the agency rejects.

This is not the first time the United States has cut money to the UN agency. Administration Trump suspended aid as part of their efforts to pressure Palestinian leaders to stop demanding that refugees be allowed to return to Israel.

But the current threat to its funding is considered the most serious in its history because it comes at a time of crisis for Gaza.

Amid famine warnings, the collapse of the health system and the mass displacement of the Palestinian population, UNRWA’s work is seen as more important than ever. Help coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid (few as they may be) who arrive in southern Gaza every day, and their schools provide shelter to more than 1 million people in Gaza, according to the agency’s statistics.

Funding suspensions can be felt quickly. Unlike other UN agencies, UNRWA does not have a strategic financial reserve. On Sunday, Guterres said services may have to be reduced from February.