February 16, 2024 Israel-Hamas war
Israel released more details on Friday about the 12 employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees that it has accused of participating in the October 7 terrorist attacks and kidnappings, including their names, photos, and alleged roles with Hamas.
The additional details included screengrabs of what Israel said were two United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employees — a social worker and math teacher — in Israel on October 7. The defense ministry also provided identification photos of 10 other alleged Hamas members, their positions and alleged involvement in the attack, but did not provide any supporting evidence to back up its claims.
CNN could not independently verify the identity of the men or Israel’s allegations about their involvement with Hamas.
An UNRWA spokesperson said the United Nations’ highest investigative authority is investigating the matter, but declined to comment on the additional details provided by Israel on Friday due to the investigation.
Some background: Israel presented the United Nations, the United States and other allies with a dossier last month that included allegations about these 12 UNRWA employees — out of 13,000 in Gaza — leading more than a dozen countries to suspend funding to the agency, which plays a central role in feeding and sheltering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the strip.
UNRWA quickly fired 10 of the 12 staff members accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attacks and launched an investigation into the allegations in hopes of keeping international funding to the agency flowing at a critical time. The United Nations said two of the 12 had died.
Read more details about Israel’s allegations.
