Israeli intelligence accuses 190 Gaza UN staff of Hamas, Islamic Jihad roles

An Israeli intelligence dossier that prompted a cascade of countries to halt funds for a UN Palestinian aid agency includes allegations that some staff took part in abductions and killings during the October 7 raid that sparked the Gaza war.

The six-page dossier, seen by Reuters, alleges that some 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. It has names and pictures for 11 them.

The Palestinians have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA, which says it has fired some staffers and is investigating the allegations.

One of the 11 is a school counselor accused in the Israeli dossier of providing unspecified assistance to his son in the abduction of a woman during the Hamas infiltration in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 kidnapped.

Another, an UNRWA social worker, is accused of unspecified involvement in the transfer to Gaza of a slain Israeli soldier's corpse and of coordinating the movements of pick-up trucks used by the raiders and of weapons supplies.

A third Palestinian in the dossier is accused of taking part in a rampage in the Israeli border village Beeri, one tenth of whose residents were killed. A fourth is accused of participating in an attack on Reim, site both of an army base that was overrun and a rave where more than 360 revelers died.

The dossier was shown to Reuters by a source who could not be identified by name or nationality. The source said that it had been compiled by Israeli intelligence and shared with the United States, which on Friday suspended funding for UNRWA.

The accusations that 190 staff have militant links would represent nearly 15% of UNRWA's total Gaza employees of 13,000.

Asked about the dossier, a spokesperson for UNRWA said she could not comment due to an ongoing probe by the United Nations.

More than 10 countries, including major donors the United States and Germany, have halted their funding to the agency.



Reuters