One is accused of kidnapping a lady. One other is claimed to have handed out ammunition. A 3rd was described as collaborating within the bloodbath at a kibbutz the place 97 folks died. And all have been stated to be staff of the United Nations assist company that colleges, shelters and feeds a whole bunch of hundreds of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip.
The accusations are contained in a file offered to the US authorities that particulars Israel’s claims in opposition to a dozen staff of the United Nations Aid and Works Company who, it says, performed a job within the Hamas assaults in opposition to Israel on Oct. 7 or of their aftermath.
The U.N. stated on Friday that it had fired a number of staff after being briefed on the allegations. However little was recognized concerning the accusations till the file was reviewed on Sunday by The New York Occasions.
The accusations are what prompted eight nations, together with the US, to droop some assist cost to the UNRWA, because the company is thought, at the same time as warfare plunges Palestinians in Gaza into determined straits. Greater than 26,000 folks have been killed there and almost two million displaced, in keeping with Gazan and U.N. officers.
The UNRWA employees have been accused of serving to Hamas stage the assault that set off the warfare in Gaza, or of aiding it within the days after. Some 1,200 folks in Israel have been killed that day, Israeli officers say, and about 240 have been kidnapped and brought to Gaza.
On Sunday, the United Nations secretary normal, António Guterres, described himself as “horrified by these accusations” and famous that 9 of the 12 accused staff had been fired. However Mr. Guterres implored these nations that had suspended their assist funds to rethink. UNRWA is without doubt one of the largest employers in Gaza, with 13,000 folks, largely Palestinians, on employees.
Requested about Israel’s allegations on Sunday, UNRWA stated that two of the 12 staff have been useless however that it couldn’t present extra data whereas the U.N.’s Workplace of Inside Oversight Providers was nonetheless investigating.
Two Western officers confirmed on the situation of anonymity that they’d been briefed on the contents of the file in current days, however stated they’d not been capable of confirm the main points. Though the US has but to corroborate the Israeli claims itself, American officers say they discovered them credible sufficient to warrant suspending assist.
The Occasions verified the id of one of many 12 staff, a storeroom supervisor, whose social media profile lists him as an UNRWA worker and reveals him carrying U.N.-branded garments.
The Israeli file, offered to U.S. officers on Friday, lists the names and jobs of the UNRWA staff and the allegations in opposition to them.
The file stated that Israeli intelligence officers had established the actions of six of the boys inside Israel on Oct. 7 based mostly on their telephones; others had been monitored whereas making cellphone calls inside Gaza throughout which, the Israelis say, they mentioned their involvement within the Hamas assault.
Three others received textual content messages ordering them to report back to muster factors on Oct. 7, and one was instructed to deliver rocket-propelled grenades saved at his residence, in keeping with the file.
The Israelis described 10 of the workers as members of Hamas, the militant group that managed Gaza on the time of the Oct. 7 assault. One other was stated to be affiliated with one other militant group, Islamic Jihad.
But seven of the accused have been additionally stated to be academics at UNRWA colleges, instructing college students in topics like math and Arabic. Two others labored on the colleges in different capacities. The remaining three have been described as a clerk, a social employee and the storeroom supervisor.
Probably the most detailed accusations within the file involved a faculty counselor from Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, who’s accused of working along with his son to abduct a lady from Israel.
A social employee from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, is accused of serving to to deliver the physique of a useless Israeli soldier to Gaza, in addition to distributing ammunition and coordinating autos on the day of the assault.
The Israeli accusations come in opposition to the backdrop of decades-long frictions with UNRWA. Since 1949, the company has cared for the households of Palestinians who fled or have been compelled from their houses through the wars surrounding the creation of the state of Israel.
The group offers very important assist to greater than 5 million Palestinian refugees scattered throughout the Center East, whose future and standing have by no means been resolved regardless of years of negotiations.
However to its critics, together with many Israelis, the company is an impediment to resolving the battle. Its very existence, they are saying, prevents Palestinian refugees from integrating into new communities and stokes their desires of someday returning to what’s now Israel — a aim that Israel says it’ll by no means enable. And in Gaza, Israel argues, UNRWA has fallen beneath the affect of Hamas, a declare the company rejects.
This isn’t the primary time the US has minimize off cash to the U.N. company. The Trump administration suspended assist as half its efforts to stress the Palestinian management to cease demanding that refugees be allowed to return to Israel.
However the present menace to its funding is taken into account to be the gravest in its historical past as a result of it comes at a time of disaster for Gaza.
Amid warnings of famine, the collapse of the well being system and the large displacement of the Palestinian inhabitants, UNRWA’s work is taken into account extra necessary than ever. It helps coordinate the distribution of the provides of assist — nonetheless meager — that arrive every day in southern Gaza, and its colleges present shelter to greater than one million Gazans, in keeping with the company’s statistics.
The funding suspensions could also be felt shortly. In contrast to different U.N. businesses, UNRWA has no strategic monetary reserve. On Sunday, Mr. Guterres stated companies may should be lowered starting in February.
A day earlier, the company’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, warned of impending disaster.
“It might be immensely irresponsible to sanction an company and a complete group it serves due to allegations of legal acts in opposition to some people, particularly at a time of warfare, displacement and political crises within the area,” he stated.
“The lives of individuals in Gaza depend upon this assist, and so does regional stability,” Mr. Lazzarini stated.
The State Division on Friday acknowledged the crucial humanitarian function performed by UNRWA however stated it was suspending its funding whereas it assessed each the allegations and the company’s response to them.
Israeli officers themselves have been involved on Sunday about whether or not their accusations may ultimately make their very own place harder, in keeping with three officers concerned within the dialogue. A collapse within the supply of companies to Gaza might drive Israel to shoulder a higher function in working assist distribution — a job it doesn’t need.
Stories concerning the accusations in opposition to the help employees got here on the identical day that the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice issued an interim ruling on accusations of genocide which have been leveled in opposition to Israel by South Africa. The courtroom ordered Israel to take motion to forestall acts of genocide by its forces in Gaza and to permit extra assist into the territory.
Reporting was contributed by Johnatan Reiss, Julian E. Barnes, Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck.
