The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services says the suspected employees have been dismissed. Nineteen members of the NGO were under investigation.
The UN admitted on Monday that nine employees of the organization “may have been involved” in the October 7 attack Hamas’s attack on Israel. “For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they could have been involved in the October 7 attacks,” deputy spokesman Farhan Haq was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The investigation was conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which reports that the Nine employees were laid off after completing the procedures.
19 staff members of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were investigated based on allegations of their involvement in armed attacks in southern Israel in early October 2023. “In one case, OIOS did not obtain evidence to support allegations of employee involvement, while in nine other cases the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support employee involvement,” said UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
“As for the remaining nine cases, evidence obtained by OIOS indicates that UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October 2023. The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interest of the agency,” it added.
Israel accuses UNRWA of allowing the Islamist movement Hamas to “use its infrastructure”
In January, Israel accused UNRWA staff of complicity in the October 7 attack on Israel and has repeatedly accused the agency of collaborating with Hamas. The agency’s employees are mostly Palestinians.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement that he had taken “the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these employees and launch an investigation to establish the truth without delay” with a view to “protecting the UN agency’s ability to provide humanitarian assistance” in the Gaza Strip.
In the same note, Lazzarini pointed out that the situation occurred after “the Israeli authorities provided the organization with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks against Israel on October 7.”
In response to these suspicions, António Guterres said he was “horrified” by the alleged involvement of UNRWA officials in the 7 October attacks on Israel and called for a swift investigation. “The Secretary-General was briefed by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on extremely serious allegations implicating several UNRWA staff members in the 7 October terrorist attacks in Israel,” Guterres’ spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
Guterres calls for investigation into alleged involvement of UN officials in Hamas attack
“Any UNRWA employee who participated in or was complicit in what happened on 7 October, or in any other criminal activity, must be immediately dismissed and referred for possible criminal prosecution,” Dujarric added.
Source: Observadora
