The secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, promised, this Thursday (8), to act immediately on any new information related to “Hamas infiltration” in the organization, after nine employees in the Gaza Strip were fired last month.
In January, Israel accused 12 members of the UN Palestinian refugee agency of participating in the October 7 attack by Hamas militants. In addition to the nine dismissed employees, the UN is trying to determine the identities of two others. A third employee is dead.
An internal UN investigation was launched after the United States — the UN agency's largest donor for Palestinian refugees — and other nations halted funding to the body following the allegations.
“You can be absolutely certain of one thing: any delegation that is presented to us by the government of Israel, in relation to any further Hamas infiltration of the UN, at any level, will be subject to immediate action,” Guterres told reporters.
The six-page dossier, prepared by Israeli intelligence and seen by Reuters, alleges that around 190 refugee agency employees, including teachers, are also Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. However, Guterres and the head of the body, Philippe Lazzarini, did not receive further information from Israel about others involved.
Guterres defended the decision to fire the employees before the investigation was completed, saying he had received reliable information from Israel: “We could not take the risk of not acting immediately on accusations related to criminal activities.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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