Israel’s Foreign Ministry sends letter to UNRWA chief with names of over 100 terrorists employed by the agency

Israel calls on UNRWA to ‘immediately terminate’ any Hamas or PIJ member

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Israel's Foreign Ministry recently sent a letter to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini with the names of over 100 UNRWA employees whom Israel accuses of being part of the Hamas terror group.

Israel’s ambassador to Jordan, Amir Weissbrod, wrote the letter to Lazzarini, saying the presence of Hamas members in UNRWA is a "recurring concern" for Israel.

"However, the full scope of this unprecedented infiltration was unknown and became clear only after the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel, in which, as you know, UNRWA employees actively participated," Weissbrod wrote.

"In recent months Israel has discovered that hundreds of terrorists, members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have been employed by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, some of them holding high-ranking positions in UNRWA or in Hamas.”

The letter identified each person with names and ID numbers, including military ID numbers given by Hamas or PIJ.

"Please find attached a document containing 108 names and IDs of terrorist operatives who are currently employed by UNRWA-Gaza," Weissbrod wrote. "This list includes their military IDs as well."

Germany’s BILD magazine first reported on the letter under the headline, “Germany finances more than 100 terrorists.”

Hillel Neuer, head of UN Watch, and NGO dedicated to monitoring the United Nations, tweeted about the letter sent by the Foreign Ministry, as it was based on research conducted by his organization.

NEW: UNRWA chief Lazzarini now has the names of 100 staff who are Hamas terrorists. He has our dossier proving his teachers union chief Fathi al-Sharif is a terrorist. Tomorrow is UNRWA's pledging conference in NY. Until he fires them, we call on 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇧🇨🇦🇸🇪 not to pledge a dime. pic.twitter.com/LwkorlFXr7
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 11, 2024

UN Watch had previously published an exposé about a Telegram group of over 3,000 UNRWA school staff, where staff members shared photos and video footage of the Oct. 7 attacks, while praising the terrorists and wishing for Israel’s destruction.

In the letter, Weissbrod said that “Israel expects from you and your organization to immediately terminate the employment of any member of Hamas or PIJ,” saying their presence in UNRWA “poses a security risk for Israel and represents a breach of the principle of neutrality.”

Although there have been serious accusations of support for terrorism and antisemitism against UNRWA, some countries, including Germany’s Foreign Ministry, resumed millions in transfers to the scandal-ridden agency in April following a report prepared by anti-Israel organizations, which attempted to minimize the accusations against the agency.

However, the organization is not only accused of having Hamas terrorists in its ranks, UNRWA facilities have long been misused by Hamas as terror bases, even preceding the current war.

Several organizations have demonstrated that In UNRWA school curricula, hatred of Jews and radical Islam are regularly taught.

In their report, BILD noted that the body of the German-Israeli hostage Shani Louk was found in an UNRWA building which had been financed by German taxpayers' money.

Last month, a bill was submitted to the Knesset to designate UNRWA as a terror organization and terminate all contact between the Israeli government and the UN body.

As of the beginning of July, three such bills were being discussed within various Knesset committees.