The Israeli military said on Monday (4) that the UN aid agency in the Gaza Strip (UNRWA) employed more than 450 “military agents” from Hamas and other armed groups. They also highlighted that the information was shared with the UN.
UNRWA is at the center of a diplomatic storm over Israeli accusations that many of its staff are also members of Hamas, and that some staff even participated in the October 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
Since then, the United States and other countries have stopped funding to UNRWA.
“More than 450 UNRWA personnel are military agents in terrorist groups in Gaza. More than 450. This is not a mere coincidence. This is systematic. There is no way to say 'We didn't know,'” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.
“We have sent the information I am sharing now, as well as additional information, to our international partners, including the UN,” he highlighted.
The agency, in response, said it would welcome any information that could be included in an ongoing independent UN investigation.
“UNRWA encourages any entity that has any information about the very serious allegations against UNRWA staff to share it with the ongoing UN investigation,” said Juliette Touma, head of communications at UNRWA.
Palestinian leaders accused Israel of a political attack on UNRWA and called for the restoration of its funding.
UNRWA employs 13,000 people in Gaza and provides daily aid to more than half of the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians. The funding freeze dramatically worsened pressure on an agency already severely overstretched during nearly five months of war.
Israel has vowed to continue its offensive until it eliminates Hamas, the Islamic group that governs Gaza and has sworn the destruction of Israel, and secures the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages still in Palestinian territory.
The Hamas attack on October 7 killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and included the taking of 253 hostages, according to Israeli calculations. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza say.
Source: CNN Brasil
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