Israel exposes UNRWA’s deep ties to Hamas in ICJ testimony, citing hostage accounts and terrorist infiltration
On Friday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry submitted a written testimony to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), detailing the close ties between the disgraced UN aid agency UNRWA and the terrorist organization Hamas in connection with the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israeli report also includes testimony from the freed Israeli hostage Emily Damari that Hamas terrorists held her in captivity in an UNRWA facility in Gaza. Other Israeli hostages have also testified that they were held captive by UNRWA employees.
However, the UN and the ICJ have largely ignored and even whitewashed the strong ties between UNRWA and the terrorist organization Hamas.
The foreign ministry in Jerusalem criticized what it called a “distorted process” by the international organizations where the outcome was “predetermined.”
“The process ignores the atrocities of October 7 and the shameful involvement of UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre and terrorist activities,” the Israeli foreign ministry stated.
“This is a fundamentally flawed process in which, through the automatic political majority against Israel at the UN, the institutions of international law are used for making political decisions,” the ministry argued.
The ministry emphasized that its filed report to the ICJ “exposes the deliberate bias” concerning an advisory opinion and unveils “the links of UNRWA employees to Hamas activities, the deep involvement of UNRWA employees in terrorist activities, the use of UNRWA facilities for terrorist activities, and the numerous violations of the neutrality to which UN institutions are committed.”
Israeli intelligence has estimated that at least 12% of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in Gaza are simultaneously members of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. In other words, over 1,000 terrorists have been embedded in the UN agency in flagrant violation of the United Nation’s commitment to neutrality.
In January 2024, the United States and several other donor nations decided to temporarily suspend financial aid to UNRWA after Israel provided incriminating evidence of UNRWA employees' involvement in the Oct. 7 massacre and kidnapping of mainly Israeli civilians.
However, the international aid to UNRWA was largely restored last April after a controversial panel report had whitewashed the strong ties between Hamas and UNRWA.
Last July, the Israeli Foreign Ministry specifically named 100 terrorists employed by UNRWA in a letter addressed to the UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
The Israeli ambassador to Jordan Amir Weissbrod who wrote the letter to Lazzarini, noted that Hamas’ infiltration into UNRWA had been a "recurring concern" for the Jewish state even prior to the Oct. 7 attack.
"However, the full scope of this unprecedented infiltration was unknown and became clear only after the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel, in which, as you know, UNRWA employees actively participated," Weissbrod stated.
In October 2024, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) decided to ban UNWRA’s operations despite international pressure to refrain from such a move. Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have emphasized that UNRWA’s close affiliation with Hamas threatens Israeli security and needs to be replaced by a humanitarian organization that is not involved in terrorism.
Last month, Mandy Damari, the mother of the released Israeli hostage Emily Damari told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that Hamas terrorists kept her severely injured daughter in UNRWA facilities in Gaza and denied her access to medical treatment.
“Hamas held Emily in UNRWA facilities and denied her access to medical treatment after shooting her twice. It’s a miracle that she survived, and we need to get aid to remaining hostages now,” Mrs. Damari told the British prime minister.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
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