The reaction from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to a CNN reporter’s inquiry regarding suspicions of collaboration between UNRWA operatives and Hamas has sparked outrage
Allegations regarding UNRWA’s involvement were recently reported by Almog Boker, a journalist from Israel’s Channel 13. Boker disclosed that a hostage, who has recently been freed, claims to have been held captive for around 50 days by a UNRWA staff member who is employed as a teacher in one of the UNRWA-operated schools in the Gaza Strip.
“This teacher locked the victim away, barely provided food, and neglected medical needs. But wait, there’s more! Another abductee was held captive by a Gazan doctor who, simultaneously, cared for children. These are not isolated incidents; these civilians are terrorists,” wrote Boker, who noted that UNRWA employees were involved in the slaughter of Israelis on October 7th.
UNRWA stated that it would conduct an investigation into the allegations made by Boker. However, they also requested that Boker remove his article, arguing that without “credible evidence,” such accusations are considered to be “misinformation.” Boker countered, emphasizing that the UN agency should consider these accounts as firsthand testimonials from the victims themselves.
During a broadcast last month, CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga presented the aforementioned conversation and inquired about the accusations to UNRWA spokesman Tom White.
“How is UNRWA investigating or responding to these two quite damning allegations?”
White asserted that UNRWA is actively distributing bags of flour to the Gaza Strip.
“So all I can speak to is our aid,” he said. “Essentially, the aid that UNRWA is bringing in goes directly into the hands of refugees. So on any given day here we are distributing over 50,000 bags of flour to families so that they can provide for themselves. How we account for that — “
Golodryga interjected to redirect the topic towards UNRWA’s involvement in attacks against Israelis.
“Does it bother you then at all that some of these trucks may be bringing, secretly smuggling in, rockets or that UNRWA teachers are hiding abductees allegedly?” she asked.
However, White proceeded to provide a detailed explanation of the agency’s involvement in activities relating to flour.
“Look, our trucks are not bringing in rockets,” responded White. “Our trucks are bringing in wheat flour, they’re bringing in supplies that help families eke out a very basic existence. We have a very clear system of accountability. Every bag of flour that is provided is cross-referenced against people’s national identity number. There are now hundreds of thousands of bags — you have literally wheat bags, wheat flour bags in Gaza with the UNRWA logo on them and they have all gone to families so that they can feed themselves.”
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has been involved in assisting refugees globally since 1921. However, UNRWA was established with a specific focus on providing support to Muslim “refugees” from Israel.
UNRWA, with an annual budget exceeding one billion dollars collected from the United States, European countries, and international NGOs, employs around 30,000 local Muslims and offers year-round “humanitarian aid” at no cost to Muslim “refugees” throughout the Levant. UNRWA can receive more funds by claiming a higher number of refugees.
Muslims whose ancestors resided in the Land of Israel before 1948 and no longer reside in their original homes have been given lifelong “refugee” status by UNRWA, even if they relocate to another country. Individuals residing in the same house as their family did prior to 1948 are still eligible to avail themselves of the benefits and services provided by UNRWA. In 1950, UNRWA asserted that there were 750,000 individuals classified as “Palestinian refugees.” Currently, the figure stands at 5.9 million and continues to increase.
This is due to the fact that individuals who have never visited Israel or the Middle East and have citizenship in other countries are also classified as refugees if they have ancestral ties to Muslims who resided in the Land of Israel prior to 1948. Furthermore, it should be noted that UNRWA made the decision to classify Muslims in the seized territories of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza as “refugees” following Israel’s successful outcome in the Six Day War of 1967.
The partnership between UNRWA and Islamic groups, mostly through schools and humanitarian aid, has been extensively documented in the past and is again being emphasized in connection with the October 7th incident.
It has been discovered, for instance, that a number of the assailants were alumni of UNRWA schools, which constitute a significant portion of Gaza’s educational establishments.
The battle vest of one of the attackers, which contained a UNRWA identification card, was successfully retrieved by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) last month.
UN Watch reports have extensively documented the collaboration between UNRWA operatives and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in promoting anti-Semitic sentiments, Holocaust denial, and the belief in Muslim superiority within the educational institutions under the PA’s administration. UNRWA teachers have also been promoting and celebrating the October 7th massacre in classrooms.
UNRWA’s humanitarian supplies has consistently been accessed by Hamas agents.
