Israel's UN ambassador slams world body, says UNRWA taken over by Hamas terrorists in Gaza

JERUSALEM - Israel’s ambassador to the world body, Danny Danon, issued a scathing indictment of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), declaring Hamas terrorists are running the organization in the Gaza Strip.

Danon’s remarks came after last week's Israeli air strike that hit the UNRWA al-Jaouni school in a Gaza refugee camp. Danon questioned, "How long will the U.N. continue to bury its head in the sand and ignore the fact that Hamas terrorists have taken over UNRWA? Those who were killed yesterday (Wednesday) in the IDF strike were nine terrorists with blood on their hands, and some of them participated in the barbaric massacre on October 7. In case there are still any doubts, there are the names of the Hamas terrorists who were at the school compound disguised as ‘local UNRWA employees."

The school, which was not operational, was being used as a Hamas command and control center, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: 'DOZENS' OF UNRWA STAFF TOOK PART IN HAMAS’ OCT 7 MASSACRE

A protester holds a flag outside the UNRWA headquarters during the demonstration in Gaza, 2020. (Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Danon listed the names of the Hamas terrorists who were affiliated with UNRWA on his X post, while noting "UNRWA-Gaza is a terrorist organization whose members participated in the October 7 massacre, and whose members abducted and murdered innocent Israeli civilians. It is time to shut down UNRWA." 

Just last month, Fox News Digital reported that UNRWA was forced to fire nine employees because of their likely involvement in Hamas’s slaughter of nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

When approached by Fox News Digital, Juliette Touma, a UNRWA spokesperson, claimed "The Israeli authorities have not requested UNRWA officially to provide them with the list of staff killed in yesterday’s attack on the UNRWA school." She added, "The names that appear on today’s statement from the Israeli Army have not been flagged to us before by the Israeli authorities in previous occasions prior to today."

She complained, "We always find out about these very serious allegations in the media. After the event." Schools in Gaza have not been in session since shortly after Israel waged war on Hamas in reaction to the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel.

DOSSIER REVEALS INFORMATION USED TO EXPLAIN UN AGENCY'S DEEP TIES TO HAMAS IN GAZA

A U.N. vehicle enters the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem on April 2, 2024. (Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS)

Fox News Digital asked the Israel Defense Forces about Touma’s statement. An IDF spokesman said "From what I understood, it’s pretty clear in Gaza who belongs to who. I don’t think this is a surprise at all to anyone in UNRWA, just an attempt to shift the discussion and blame." The IDF spokesman stressed that the UNRWA spokeswoman’s comment "Sounds like a diversion from talking about the important issue - terrorists working for the organization and using UNRWA as a cover."

Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, told Fox News Digital. "This was a precision strike targeting terrorists who embedded a command and control center within a compound that had previously served as a school. The U.N. should be condemning Hamas for using civilian buildings for military purposes, which is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Instead, they rushed to condemn Israel."

Israeli Permanent Member to the United Nations Danny Danon speaks during a session of the Security Council at the New York City headquarters. (Israel United Nations mission)

Neuer, who has testified to Congress about the controversial agency, claimed, "UNRWA is deeply complicit with the Hamas terrorist organization. Their staff routinely celebrate terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews, as we have identified in numerous of our reports, listing some 200 names. Next, we identified heads of UNRWA teachers unions, who are senior officials within Hamas. Suhail al-Hindi, who for many years headed the UNRWA teachers union in Gaza, is sitting on the Hamas political bureau with Yahya Sinwar. Likewise, the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, Fathi al-Sharif, is a senior Hamas terrorist, documented on our website, unwatch.org."

He called on foreign governments to stop funding UNRWA. "It is high time for all western states who are giving more than a billion dollars to UNRWA to stop funding a terror-infested agency. The Swiss parliament rightly called to stop funding it, and to end UNRWA altogether. We urge all other democracies, the U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Japan, to do the same."

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) armored units launch an attack on the Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza on May 15, 2024. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

UNRWA's Touma decried the Swiss decision. "Switzerland’s lower parliament votes to suspend funding to UNRWA. It is beyond comprehension that this happens in circumstances where the Agency is at the forefront of lifesaving humanitarian work in Gaza. Switzerland has been known for championing humanitarian aid and playing a leading role in promoting international humanitarian law."

Touma added, "Parliamentarians voting to phase out a U.N. General Assembly mandated Agency without offering a political alternative to Palestinians under occupation are again on the wrong side of history." 

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The U.S. suspended funding to UNRWA because of the role some of its employees played in the Oct. 7 massacre. President Biden had initially restarted aid to the controversy-hit agency upon assuming office after former President Donald Trump's decision to defund the controversial organization in 2018.