Israeli intelligence report claims four UNRWA staff in Gaza involved in Hamas kidnappings
Sky News has seen Israeli intelligence documents that Israel claims is evidence that staff working for a UN agency were connected with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The report, which has been shared with foreign governments, alleges that six employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) infiltrated Israel. Four of them were allegedly involved in kidnapping Israelis, while another worker is said to have provided “logistics support”.
Further claims include accusations that “out of approx. 12,000 UNRWA employees in GS [Gaza Strip], about 10% are Hamas/PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] operatives and about 50% are first-degree relatives with a Hamas operative”.
Critics of Israel’s actions say the number of staff allegedly involved is a tiny percentage of the agency’s overall workforce, and the decision by governments to suspend funding in response to the claims is a cruel and disproportionate move.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said it was “outraged” at foreign governments for pausing donations.
It said in a statement: “We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job.”
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Palestinians gather at a UNRWA base in Rafah. File pic: AP
The Israeli intelligence report also claims UNRWA is forced “to act under the authorisation and supervision of Hamas” and “it appears that UNRWA is assisting Hamas with securing humanitarian aid that is transferred to GS”.
It adds: “Following Hamas’s request, during Swords of Iron [the Israeli name for its military action in Gaza], UNRWA transferred fuel to north GS.”
Israel has long claimed that Hamas fighters have used UNWRA facilities to hide and store weapons, including in schools and hospitals, and dug tunnels under the agency’s buildings, sometimes with its knowledge.
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‘Collective punishment’
UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide assistance and protection for Palestinian refugees. It is funded almost entirely by voluntary donations.
In practice, the agency runs schools, health services and refugee camps – but not just in Gaza. It also operates in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as parts of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
It provides education to more than 544,000 children across 706 schools, hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for small businesses and job creation, and healthcare support for more than seven million visits by patients every year.
They will all be affected by the suspension of funding, which critics have described as a form of “collective punishment”.
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The Israeli intelligence documents make several claims that Sky News has not seen proof of and many of the claims, even if true, do not directly implicate UNRWA.
Following the allegations, a number of countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and Australia, suspended funding to the agency pending further investigation.
‘Death sentence for millions’
Responding to the developments, UNRWA’s commissioner general Phillippe Lazzarini said last week he had immediately terminated the contracts of the accused staff and ordered an investigation.
He said: “Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through 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.”
Philippe Lazzarini speaking to Sky News last year
UNRWA also said it shares the list of all its staff with host countries every year, including Israel.
“The agency never received any concerns on specific staff members,” it added.
The move to cut funding has been severely criticised by other aid organisations. Action Aid said it “spells a death sentence for millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the surrounding regions.”
UNRWA has paid a heavy price during the war – 152 of its staff have been killed in Gaza and 145 of its facilities have been damaged.
World
Ukraine war: 14 killed as Russian missile and drone attacks strike Kyiv – including American citizen
Russian missile and drone attacks have killed 14 people in Kyiv overnight, according to Ukrainian officials.
A 62-year-old US citizen who suffered shrapnel wounds is among the dead.
At least 99 others were wounded in strikes that hollowed out a residential building and destroyed dozens of apartments.
Pic: AP
Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble.
Images show a firefighter was among those hurt, with injured residents evacuated from their homes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as “one of the most terrifying attacks on Kyiv” – and said Russian forces had fired 440 drones and 32 missiles as civilians slept in their homes.
“[Putin] wants the war to go on,” he said. “It is troubling when the powerful of this world turn a blind eye to it.”
Pic: AP
Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said 27 locations across the capital have been hit – including educational institutions and critical infrastructure.
He claimed the attack, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, was one of the largest on the capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Drones swarmed over the city, with an air raid alert remaining in force for seven hours.
One person was killed and 17 others injured as a result of separate Russian drone strikes in the port city of Odesa.
Pic: Reuters
It comes as the G7 summit in Canada continues, which Ukraine’s leader is expected to attend.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold talks with Donald Trump – but the president has announced he is unexpectedly returning to Washington because of tensions in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister says Moscow’s decision to attack Kyiv during the summit is a signal of disrespect to the US.
Moscow has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks, and says the attacks are in retaliation for a Ukrainian operation that targeted warplanes in airbases deep within Russian territory.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko says fires broke out in two of the city’s districts as a result of debris from drones shot down by the nation’s air defences.
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Pic: AP
On X, Ukraine’s foreign ministry wrote: “Russia’s campaign of terror against civilians continues. Its war against Ukraine escalates with increased brutality.
“The only way to stop Russia is tighter pressure – through sanctions, more defence support for Ukraine, and limiting Russia’s ability to keep sowing war.”
Olena Lapyshnak, who lived in one of the destroyed buildings, said: “It’s horrible, it’s scary, in one moment there is no life. I can only curse the Russians, that’s all I can say. They shouldn’t exist in this world.”
World
Israeli tank shelling kills 51 people waiting for aid in Khan Younis, Hamas-run health ministry says
Israeli tank shellfire has killed at least 51 Palestinians in Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Hundreds of others have been injured, with “dozens of critical cases” arriving at a medical complex.
It is feared that the number of fatalities will rise.
Pic: Reuters
The strikes took place as people waited for United Nations and commercial aid trucks in the southern Gaza city.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd.
“Emergency, intensive care, and operating rooms are experiencing severe overcrowding,” a statement said.
Officials say medical staff “are operating with limited supplies of life-saving medicines” – with the ministry renewing an “urgent appeal” to increase aid.
Pic: Reuters
Hours earlier, Donald Trump had joined other G7 leaders to call for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza”.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on this incident.
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said at least 34 people were shot dead near food distribution centres.
This was the highest reported daily total since Israel and US-backed aid centres opened last month, with thousands of Palestinians moving through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach them.
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