IDF eliminates UNRWA employee who was Hamas commander responsible for attack on Kibbutz Re'im, kidnapping of American-Israeli Goldberg-Polin

A Hamas Nukhba Force commander who led a massacre of Israeli civilians at a bomb shelter close to Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7 and kidnapped four people, including U.S.-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was eliminated in an Israeli aerial strike.

The Israeli military and the intelligence agency Shin Bet revealed on Thursday that Muhammad Abu Itiwi was killed in the strike. He led Hamas’ Bureij Battalion and was simultaneously employed by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA since July 2022.

On Oct. 7, 2023, some 6,000 terrorists from Gaza invaded southern Israeli border communities, killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 Israelis and foreign nationals.

Abu Itiwi was a wanted suspect by Israel in connection with a deadly bomb attack on a shelter near Kibbutz Rei'im, where some Nova Music Festival attendees had taken refuge. Attawi and his operatives killed 16 Israelis, kidnapped four people, and left seven survivors from the assault.

The IDF said that representatives from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) had “demanded from senior officials in the international community and the UN clarifications and an urgent inquiry into the participation of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre and terrorist activity against Israel.”

UNRWA quickly confirmed that Abu Itiwi was one of their employees and that his name was on a list of terrorists that Israel had provided them earlier. However, the UN organization claimed it had not taken any action because it was waiting for more information regarding the issue.

“The UNRWA commissioner general responded to that letter immediately stating that any allegation is taken seriously. He urged (the government of Israel) to cooperate with the agency by providing more information so he could take action. To date, UNRWA has not received any response to that letter,” said UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma.

Israel has condemned UNRWA for its close ties with Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist organizations. Abu Itiwi is not the only example of a Hamas terrorist simultaneously serving as a UNRWA worker.

In January, the United States and several other donor nations temporarily suspended financial aid to UNRWA after Israel presented incriminating evidence proving that several of the UN organization’s employees had participated in the Oct. 7 attack.

In February, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant revealed the names of 12 UNRWA workers who had directly participated in the atrocities.

Gallant informed media representatives that 30 additional UNRWA workers were involved in the massacres and kidnappings of primarily Israeli civilians. Israeli intelligence estimates that at least 12% of UNRWA's 13,000 employees in Gaza have affiliations with terrorist groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted UNRWA and urged the UN to replace the agency responsible for assisting Palestinian civilians.

However, in April, a panel whitewashed the UNRWA-Hamas terrorism report, claiming that Israel hadn't presented sufficient evidence linking UNRWA employees to the terrorist organization Hamas.

The report prompted the United States and other donor nations to resume their financial assistance to UNRWA.

For years, Israeli and international critics have condemned UNRWA for supporting terrorism and promoting hatred toward Jews.