by One is accused of kidnapping a woman. Another is said to have distributed ammunition. A third party was described as participating in the kibbutz massacre where 97 people died. And they were all said to be employees of the United Nations aid agency that educates, houses and feeds hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The allegations are contained in a dossier provided to the U.S. government that details Israel’s claims against a dozen United Nations Relief and Works Agency employees who it says played a role in Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 or in its aftermath.
The UN said on Friday it had fired several employees after being informed of the allegations. But little was known about the allegations until The New York Times reviewed the file on Sunday.
The accusations are what led eight countries, including the United States, to suspend some aid payments to UNRWA, as the agency is known, even as the war plunges Palestinians in Gaza into a desperate situation. More than 26,000 people have died there and nearly two million have been displaced, according to Gaza and U.N. officials.
UNRWA workers have been accused of helping Hamas organize the attack that sparked the war in Gaza, or assisting it in the days afterward. About 1,200 people in Israel were killed that day, Israeli officials say, and about 240 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
U.N. officials initially said all 12 employees were fired, but on Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said nine had been fired. When asked on Sunday about Israel’s allegations, UNRWA said two of the 12 employees were dead but that it could not provide more information while the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services was still investigating.
Guterres described himself as “horrified by these allegations” but implored nations that had suspended their aid payments to reconsider. UNRWA is one of Gaza’s largest employers, with 13,000 people, mostly Palestinians, on its staff.
Two Western officials confirmed on condition of anonymity that they had been briefed on the contents of the dossier in recent days, but said they had not been able to verify the details. Although the United States has yet to corroborate the Israeli claims, American officials say they found them credible enough to justify suspending aid.
The Times verified the identity of one of the 12 employees, a warehouse manager, whose social media profile lists him as a UNRWA employee and shows him wearing UN-branded clothing.
The Israeli dossier, presented to US officials on Friday, lists the names and job titles of UNRWA employees and the allegations against them.
The dossier said that Israeli intelligence officers had established the movements of six of the men inside Israel on October 7 based on their phones; others had been monitored while making phone calls inside Gaza during which, according to the Israelis, they discussed their involvement in the Hamas attack.
Three others received text messages ordering them to report to assembly points on Oct. 7, and one was told to bring rocket-propelled grenades stored at his home, according to the filing.
The Israelis described 10 of the employees as members of Hamas, the militant group that controlled Gaza at the time of the Oct. 7 attack. Another was said to be affiliated with another militant group, Islamic Jihad.
However, seven of the accused were also said to be teachers at UNRWA schools, teaching students subjects such as mathematics and Arabic. Two others worked in the schools in other capacities. The remaining three were described as an employee, a social worker and the warehouse manager.
The most detailed allegations in the file concern a school counselor from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, accused of working with his son to kidnap a woman from Israel.
A social worker from Nuseirat in central Gaza is accused of helping transport the body of a dead Israeli soldier to Gaza, as well as distributing ammunition and coordinating vehicles on the day of the attack.
The Israeli accusations come against the backdrop of decades-long friction with UNRWA. Since 1949, the agency has cared for the families of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the wars surrounding the creation of the State of Israel.
The organization provides vital aid to more than five million Palestinian refugees spread across the Middle East, whose future and status have never been resolved despite years of negotiations.
But for its critics, including many Israelis, the agency is an obstacle to resolving the conflict. Their mere existence, they say, prevents Palestinian refugees from integrating into new communities and fuels their dreams of one day returning to what is now Israel, a goal Israel says it will never allow. And in Gaza, Israel argues, UNRWA has fallen under the influence of Hamas, a claim the agency rejects.
This is not the first time the United States has cut money from the UN agency. The Trump administration suspended the aid as part of its efforts to pressure Palestinian leaders to stop demanding that refugees be allowed to return to Israel.
But the current threat to its financing is considered the most serious in its history because it comes at a time of crisis for Gaza.
Amid warnings of famine, the collapse of the health system and the mass displacement of the Palestinian population, UNRWA’s work is seen as more important than ever. It helps coordinate the distribution of relief supplies (however scarce) that arrive each day in southern Gaza, and its schools provide shelter to more than one million Gazans, according to agency statistics.
Funding suspensions can be felt quickly. Unlike other UN agencies, UNRWA does not have a strategic financial reserve. On Sunday, Guterres said services may need to be reduced starting in February.
A day earlier, the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, warned of an imminent catastrophe.
“It would be immensely irresponsible to sanction an agency and an entire community it serves for allegations of criminal acts against some individuals, especially in times of war, displacement and political crises in the region,” he said.
“The lives of the people of Gaza depend on this support, as does regional stability,” Lazzarini said.
The State Department on Friday acknowledged the critical humanitarian role played by UNRWA, but said it would suspend its funding while it evaluated both the allegations and the agency’s response to them.
Israeli officials themselves were concerned Sunday about whether their accusations could ultimately make their own position more difficult, according to three officials involved in the discussion. A collapse in service delivery to Gaza could force Israel to take a larger role in managing aid distribution, a role it does not want.
The reports of the accusations against the aid workers came on the same day that the International Court of Justice issued a provisional ruling on genocide accusations leveled against Israel by South Africa. The court ordered Israel to take steps to prevent acts of genocide by its forces in Gaza and allow more aid into the territory.
The report was contributed by Johnatan Reiss, Julian E. Barnes, Gabby Sobelman and Myra Noveck.
