UN forced to fire 9 employees over likely involvement in Hamas massacre: 'Tip of the iceberg'

JERUSALEM — The United Nations said on Monday that nine employees from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) likely participated in the Hamas slaughter of 1,200 people, including more than 30 Americans, on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

"For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the 7th of October attacks," Farhan Haq, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general said during a press briefing.

The U.N. announced that the world body will sever its employment from UNRWA, an agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.

In January, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres tasked the U.N.'s investigative arm, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, to investigate allegations that UNRWA staff took part in the Oct. 7 massacre.

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

This image from undated bodycam video footage taken by a downed Hamas terrorist and released by the Israel Defense Forces shows a Hamas terrorist walking around a residential neighborhood at an undisclosed location in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)

Reuters reported that 19 staff members were investigated, but apart from the nine dismissed, the other cases lacked evidence to support their involvement.

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in a statement posted on the agency's website that "I have decided that in the case of these remaining nine staff members, they cannot work for UNRWA. All contracts of these staff members will be terminated in the interest of the Agency."

The criticism of UNRWA’s criminal misconduct was swift. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital, "Now is the time for major donor nations to UNRWA to end funding for this corrupted pro-Hamas anti-peace entity. UNRWA is part of the problem for Palestinians, not part of any peaceful solution."

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani criticized the agency on X, noting in part that "A UN investigation (yes, UN as in the first two letters of UNRWA) has concluded that 9 of your workers might have taken part in the raping, killing and slaughtering of Israelis and Israeli communities during the Oct. 7 massacre. Your ‘relief’ agency has officially stooped to a new level of low, and it is time that the world sees your true face."

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

David Bedein, the director of the Center for Near East Policy Research in Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital the investigation was just "the tip of the iceberg."

Bedein, who has published numerous reports on UNRWA's curriculum that documented pro-terrorism and antisemitic teaching, added, "UNRWA is coming out of October 7 strengthened and there is no supervision and there is no demand from Israel and donor countries that there be inspections of UNRWA facilities for weapons."

This image from undated bodycam video footage taken by a downed Hamas terrorist and released by the Israel Defense Forces shows a Hamas terrorist walking around a residential neighborhood at an undisclosed location in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)

He said he recommended to the Israeli security establishment in September 2023 that there be "close supervision of UNRWA."

Fox News Digital reported in late July that Israeli lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill that would cut ties with the controversial U.N. agency and declare it a terrorist entity. Speaking in the Knesset in July, Yulia Malinovsky, the bill’s sponsor, called UNRWA "a fifth column within the State of Israel" and said it was high time that the agency was outlawed in the country. 

The House Foreign Affairs Committee also passed initial legislation that would build on an already existing funding freeze for the multimillion-dollar organization and direct the State Department to recover previously donated monies. 

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The U.S. suspended funding for UNRWA after Israeli allegations over its members taking part in the attack on Israel. However, many countries, including Germany, Austria, Japan and also the European Union have restarted their funding to the organization.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they had not yet reviewed the report's findings.

Fox News' Yonat Friling, Ruth Marks Eglash and Reuters contributed to this report.