One is accused of kidnapping a girl. One other is alleged to have handed out ammunition. A 3rd was described as participating within the bloodbath at a kibbutz the place 97 individuals died. And all had been stated to be workers of the United Nations support company that colleges, shelters and feeds lots of of hundreds of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip.
The accusations are contained in a file offered to america authorities that particulars Israel’s claims in opposition to a dozen workers of the United Nations Aid and Works Company who, it says, performed a task 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 workers after being briefed on the allegations. However little was recognized in regards to the accusations till the file was reviewed on Sunday by The New York Instances.
The accusations are what prompted eight nations, together with america, to droop some support cost to the UNRWA, because the company is understood, at the same time as battle plunges Palestinians in Gaza into determined straits. Greater than 26,000 individuals have been killed there and almost two million displaced, in line with Gazan and U.N. officers.
The UNRWA employees have been accused of serving to Hamas stage the assault that set off the battle in Gaza, or of aiding it within the days after. Some 1,200 individuals in Israel had been killed that day, Israeli officers say, and about 240 had 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 workers had been fired. However Mr. Guterres implored these nations that had suspended their support funds to rethink. UNRWA is among the largest employers in Gaza, with 13,000 individuals, principally Palestinians, on employees.
Requested about Israel’s allegations on Sunday, UNRWA stated that two of the 12 workers had been lifeless however that it couldn’t present extra data whereas the U.N.’s Workplace of Inside Oversight Companies was nonetheless investigating.
Two Western officers confirmed on the situation of anonymity that they’d been briefed on the contents of the file in latest days, however stated they’d not been in a position to confirm the main points. Though america has but to corroborate the Israeli claims itself, American officers say they discovered them credible sufficient to warrant suspending support.
The Instances verified the id of one of many 12 workers, a storeroom supervisor, whose social media profile lists him as an UNRWA worker and reveals him carrying U.N.-branded garments.
The Israeli file, introduced to U.S. officers on Friday, lists the names and jobs of the UNRWA workers and the allegations in opposition to them.
The file stated that Israeli intelligence officers had established the actions of six of the lads inside Israel on Oct. 7 primarily based 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 advised to convey rocket-propelled grenades saved at his house, in line 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 had been additionally stated to be lecturers at UNRWA colleges, instructing college students in topics like math and Arabic. Two others labored on the colleges in different capacities. The remaining three had 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 together with his son to abduct a girl from Israel.
A social employee from Nuseirat, in central Gaza, is accused of serving to to convey the physique of a lifeless Israeli soldier to Gaza, in addition to distributing ammunition and coordinating automobiles 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 had been pressured from their properties through the wars surrounding the creation of the state of Israel.
The group supplies very important support 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 at some point returning to what’s now Israel — a purpose that Israel says it’ll by no means permit. And in Gaza, Israel argues, UNRWA has fallen beneath the affect of Hamas, a declare the company rejects.
This isn’t the primary time america has lower off cash to the U.N. company. The Trump administration suspended support as half its efforts to strain the Palestinian management to cease demanding that refugees be allowed to return to Israel.
However the present risk 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 huge displacement of the Palestinian inhabitants, UNRWA’s work is taken into account extra vital than ever. It helps coordinate the distribution of the provides of support — nonetheless meager — that arrive every day in southern Gaza, and its colleges present shelter to greater than one million Gazans, in line with the company’s statistics.
The funding suspensions could also be felt rapidly. Not like different U.N. businesses, UNRWA has no strategic monetary reserve. On Sunday, Mr. Guterres stated providers may must be decreased 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 prison acts in opposition to some people, particularly at a time of battle, 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 essential 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 had been involved on Sunday about whether or not their accusations may in the long run make their very own place harder, in line with three officers concerned within the dialogue. A collapse within the supply of providers to Gaza may power Israel to shoulder a higher function in operating support distribution — a task it doesn’t need.
Experiences in regards to 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 were 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 support into the territory.
Reporting was contributed by Johnatan Reiss, Julian E. Barnes, Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck.