UK Pauses Funding for UN Agency Over Claims Staff Involved in Hamas Attack

Palestinians pass by the gate of an UNRWA-run school in Nablus in the West Bank, Aug. 13, 2018. (Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters)

The UK is pausing its funding for the U.N.’s relief agency in Gaza over allegations that a number of its employees were involved in the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7 last year.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the UK is “appalled” by the allegations and will review them while suspending future funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

It comes after the UNRWA said it had sacked several of its employees in Gaza suspected of taking part in last year’s assault by Hamas and other terrorists on southern Israel.

The United States—the agency’s biggest donor—Australia, Italy, and Canada have also suspended funding to the agency.

In a statement released on Saturday, an FCDO spokesperson said: “The UK is appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK government has repeatedly condemned.

“The UK is temporarily pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations.

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“We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it.”

The UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees.

Its area of operation includes the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been carrying out a military campaign to neutralize the Hamas terror group, whose operatives use the area to stage attacks against Israel.

UNRWA has 13,000 staff in Gaza, almost all of them Palestinians, ranging from teachers in schools that the agency runs, to doctors, medical staff, and aid workers.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, said in a statement Friday that Israeli authorities had provided the agency with “shocking” information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA staff members in the Oct. 7 attacks, which he described as “horrific.”

Mr. Lazzarini said he had decided to terminate the contracts of these UNRWA employees immediately and launch an investigation.

“Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” he added.

The U.N. chief’s spokesperson said that UNRWA would commission an “independent expert review” of the allegations.

After the United States suspended funding to UNRWA, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant thanked the U.S. administration on X, and said “at least a dozen UNRWA employees” had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.

The relief agency has played a key role in providing aid for the enclave’s population since the Israel–Hamas war broke out. It has also faced long-running criticism from Israel and others, who accuse the group of coordinating with groups that the United States designates as terrorists, as well as of using teaching materials in Palestinian schools that foster anti-Semitism and jihadism.

In 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump cut funding for UNRWA, but President Joe Biden resumed it after assuming office.

UNRWA Controversy

Some see UNRWA as a critical provider of services to beleaguered Arab populations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, while others see it as an enabler of the crisis and an obstacle to peace—and many say it’s both.

Israel has long maintained that the Hamas terrorist group has used UNRWA-operated schools and health facilities in Gaza to shield its terror operations.

“It was born in sin, it exists in sin, and it operates in sin,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said of UNRWA in an earlier interview with The Epoch Times.

“This is a political organization that, at the beginning, served the interests of Arab states that didn’t want to absorb Palestinian refugees into their countries,” he said.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorists launched surprise attacks on Israel, slaughtering some 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 240 hostages.

The death toll in Gaza has since reached over 26,000, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.

Tom Ozimek, Dan M. Berger, and PA Media contributed to this report.