US halts funds for UN body over allegations staff involved in Hamas attacks on Israel

Editor’s note: This report has been updated to clarify attribution for the quote regarding U.S. concerns about the allegations.

The Biden administration announced Friday it was pausing funds for the United Nations body responsible for Palestinian refugees over allegations that 12 of its staff were involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.

“The United States is extremely troubled by the allegations that twelve UNRWA employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), a U.N. body dedicated to serving Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. 

“The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.”

The Biden administration delivered $75 million to UNRWA in October, bypassing a long-held congressional block on the funds over criticisms against the U.N. agency, in part over concerns Hamas members were employed by the organization.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Friday that the body was launching an investigation into staff after Israeli authorities provided information that several employees of the organization participated in Hamas’s attack against Israel, in which fighters raided southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking 240 people hostage, more than 100 of whom are still in captivity and without communication.

Lazzarini said the agency had immediately terminated the contracts of the suspected individuals ahead of its investigation.

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

“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.”

The agency provides critical aid and services to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and also serves Palestinians in the West Bank, Jordan and Lebanon. Among the services include housing, food, cooking materials, schools and healthcare.

The UNRWA has been viewed as a critical agency by humanitarian groups seeking to aid Palestinians caught under fire in Israel’s war against Hamas, with a catastrophic humanitarian crisis occurring amid massive destruction, displacement and warnings of famine. More than 60,000 injuries and 26,000 deaths have been reported by the Hamas-run Gaza health agency, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its totals.

The U.N. agency for Palestinians was established in the wake of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and serviced an estimated 700,000 Palestinian refugees. But the organization’s scope has expanded to include descendents of original refugees and their families. 

The UNRWA has long been a lightning rod of criticism by Israel and its supporters, which accuse the group of employing or coordinating with U.S.-designated terrorist groups such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and using teaching materials that promote antisemitism and deny the right for Israel to exist.

Former President Trump cut funding for the UNRWA in 2018. It was resumed under the Biden administration.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said during a press briefing that UNRWA had received $90 million in funds for urgent needs and about $280 million in aid after an emergency appeal for about $481 million that was launched at the end of December.

Dujarric said that while an investigation into the allegations is being carried out, UNRWA’s mission remains critical.

“There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza who rely on UNRWA’s humanitarian work, who rely on humanitarian assistance, even more now than they did before,”  Dujarric said in a press conference with reporters.

“The Commissioner General, I think, has taken very swift and strong measures right away. At the same time, our humanitarian work needs to continue. Lives depend on it.”

— Updated at 4:38 p.m. ET