News outlets with access to the summary of an intelligence dossier that claims employees of the UN aid agency for Palestinians participated in the Hamas October 7 attack say it does not include evidence to back the claims. Tel Aviv’s assertion led several major donors to the UN Relief and Works Agency to suspend their funding. UN officials warn that UNRWA will soon run out of funds, which will accelerate Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians dissent into famine.
The UK’s Channel 4 and The Daily Beast reviewed the six-page summary of an intelligence dossier that Israel is distributing to select sources. The document alleges that 12 members of UNRWA participated in the October 7 and hundreds of the agency’s 30,000 employees have ties to Hamas.
However, according to the outlets, the summary does not provide evidence, just assertions. Channel 4 said Israel “provides no evidence for the explosive claim that UNRWA staff were involved in the terror attacks on Israel.”
The Daily Beast reports, “An Israeli intelligence dossier spelling out allegations that a dozen staffers at the United Nations’ top agency in Gaza participated in the October 7 attacks includes little evidence to back up those claims.” CBS News noted that the dossier made the assertions “without providing evidence.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted the US has not verified the Israeli assertions. Israel is refusing to release the full intelligence dossier. However, the US and over a dozen other countries accepted the unproven assertions and suspended funding for UNRWA.
UNRWA may have to shut down at the end of the month without additional support, according to officials. If UNRWA halts aid deliveries into Gaza, it will push additional Palestinians into famine. Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, posted on X, “Some states decided to defund UNRWA for the alleged actions of a small number of employees. This collectively punishes +2.2 million Palestinians. Famine was imminent. Famine is now inevitable.”
The UN is conducting an investigation into the Israeli allegations led by a French diplomat. The results may not matter to the future of the agency as Israel wants to shut down UNRWA at the end of the conflict. During the war, Israel saw the trickle of aid that UNRWA funnels into Gaza as useful to preventing a full-scale famine that could force Israel to cease its military operations in the Strip.
