Topic: UNRWA terminates 12 staff over alleged involvement in Hamas attacks after US pauses funding – Christian News 27 January 2024 – Faithwheel.com
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UNRWA terminates 12 staff over alleged involvement in Hamas attacks after US pauses funding
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, January 27, 2024
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has terminated the contracts of 12 staff members over their alleged involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, and launched an investigation. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, made the announcement after the U.S. paused additional funding for UNRWA pending the investigation’s outcome.
In a statement Friday, Lazzarini emphasized that any UNRWA employee involved in acts of terror would face criminal prosecution. “UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages and their safe return to their families,” Lazzarini said.
UNRWA, established in 1949, operates in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, providing assistance to Palestine refugees. The agency’s services include education, health care, relief, social services and emergency assistance, funded mainly through voluntary contributions.
“These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the Agency has been providing since the war began,” Lazzarini said. “Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world.”
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Simultaneously, the U.S. State Department expressed deep concern over these allegations.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, after speaking with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, welcomed the decision for a thorough investigation. In a statement, the State Department highlighted UNRWA’s critical role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians and stressed the need for accountability and appropriate corrective measures.
“There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7,” the State Department said.UnmuteAdvanced SettingsFullscreenPauseUp Next
In December 2023, The Christian Post reported an accusation against a UNRWA teacher for allegedly holding a Hamas hostage, based on a report by Israeli Channel 13’s Almog Boker.
The claim, deemed “unsubstantiated” by UNRWA at the time, emerged amid a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas. Boker reported that over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, with about 240 abductions. Boker described these incidents as integral to Hamas’s operations, involving civilians in terrorist activities.
UNRWA requested more information from the journalist who reported the incident, stressing the importance of credible information to support such serious allegations. UNRWA also addressed these claims on social media, highlighting the long-standing documentation of accusations against the agency.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education reported at the time that 13 UNRWA staffers had celebrated the Oct. 7 attack on social media. This report also mentioned antisemitic content in UNRWA school textbooks, a claim UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma labeled “unsubstantiated.”
“UNRWA rejects claims linking its schools to the abhorrent 7 October attacks in Israel–attacks that UNRWA has condemned in the strongest terms,” Touma said at the time. “As in the past, these allegations are yet another attempt to sensationalize and extrapolate, based on flawed methodology and flimsy evidence.”
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