According to Hamas records that Israel obtained and that The New York Times examined, the United Nations (UN) agency for Palestinians hired terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in its schools in the Gaza Strip.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been the target of Israeli frustration for over ten years due to its inability to prevent terrorists from infiltrating its ranks. Israel has claimed that a number of UNRWA employees also participated in the October 7 attack against Israel, which was led by Hamas.
At least 24 Hamas and PIJ terrorists, including those in command roles, were employed by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, according to the records obtained by Israel.
Israel has long alleged that Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations have infiltrated UNRWA and have long utilized UN buildings, such as schools, to fire rockets at Israel, store weapons, and shelter terrorists.
According to the publication, Hamas is known to keep copious records of its members, including tracking the weapons that are provided to them and routinely recording the personnel’s development on a variety of criteria, from allegiance to fitness.
The terrorists from PIJ and Hamas were not UNRWA’s junior employees.
According to the Times, the majority of the terrorists working for UNRWA were principals or deputy principals of UN-run schools, with the other individuals being teachers and school counselors.
According to the publication, Hamas records identified Ahmad al-Khatib, a deputy principal of a UN-run elementary school in Gaza, as a squad commander in Khan Younis. According to the documents, he had been given at least a dozen weapons, including hand grenades and a Kalashnikov rifle, and was an expert in ground fighting.
According to the newspaper, the UN had such terrorists working in at least 24 of its 288 schools in Gaza.
According to the newspaper, the records not only exposed the recruitment of terrorists but also demonstrated that two schools were prominently utilized for the concealment and storage of weapons.
Gazans informed The Times that it was a well-known fact across Gaza that Hamas terrorists worked at UN-run schools.
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According to the publication, a Hamas terrorist employed by the UN was frequently spotted after school hours brandishing a rifle while wearing a Hamas military outfit.
The Israeli government said that it was not a case of a few bad apples, despite the UN telling the newspaper that Israel was waging a campaign to undermine UNRWA.
Terrorists themselves have admitted that there are terrorists working for the UN, despite the organization’s denial of this fact.
Hamas declared in September that Fatah Sharif, a former leader of UNRWA’s teachers’ union and a school principal who was slain in the fighting in Lebanon, was a high commander. The UNRWA even acknowledged the same thing.
