UNRWA sacks staff ‘who may have been involved’ in Oct 7 attacks

Agency has ‘sufficient information’ to ‘terminate nine individuals’ after investigation into allegations members took part in the massacre

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees fired nine of its staff members on Monday after finding that they “may have been” involved in the October 7 massacre.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, has “sufficient information in order to take the actions that we’re taking – which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals”.
In nine other cases, UNRWA didn’t have sufficient evidence of involvement in the terror attack.
The announcement comes after nearly six months of internal investigation into allegations made by Israel that 19 of its staff members took part in the October 7 attack.
At least one UNRWA staff member was caught on video kidnapping an Israeli civilian from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. The accusations led to a number of Western countries freezing funds for the agency, including the UK, which then reversed its decision under Sir Keir Starmer.
The announcement comes as Israel sent troops to bolster its borders with the West Bank to prepare for a possible ground assault orchestrated by Hamas and Iran.
Additional forces were deployed to cities to foil any infiltration attempt, following a deadly knife attack on Sunday that left two people killed in the city of Holon in central Israel, Israel’s Army Radio, run by the armed forces, reported.
It came amid frantic diplomatic efforts to prevent regional war as Iran was preparing to launch a major revenge attack against Israel.
The US commander of its Middle East forces arrived in Israel for talks on “joint preparation” on Monday, while US warships moved closer to Israel to help defend the ally.
Iran cleared the skies of commercial planes in parts of the country, much as it did before a similar large-scale attack in April. Tehran also called a crisis meeting of Arab states on Wednesday, suggesting its attack may come later in the week.
Iran also hosted a close ally of Vladimir Putin on Monday. Russia has criticised Israel for assassinating the Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh in Tehran last week and has grown closer to Iran since the war with Ukraine.
Tehran has dismissed attempts by Arab nations and the US to de-escalate the situation, saying it will attack Israel even if it means sparking a war, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Nasser Kanaani, the Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesman, reiterated on Monday that an attack was being prepared, saying: “We believe Iran is entitled to punish the aggressor within the framework of international law.”
In Gaza on Monday, Israel continued to attack Hamas, killing Hamas minister of economy, Abdel Al Zeriei, as well as a battalion commander in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade.
But a CNN report published on Monday cast doubt on the IDF’s destruction of Hamas military capabilities.
Nearly half of Hamas’s battalions in northern and central Gaza have rebuilt themselves despite nearly 10 months of Israeli pummeling, the report said.
The research shows that as of July 1, only three of Hamas’s 24 battalions have been destroyed. Among the reasons are the group’s ability to replenish their ranks, make effective use of scarce resources and employ guerilla tactics.
“The Israelis would say that they cleared a place, but … they haven’t defeated these fighters at all,” said Brian Carter who led the joint research. “[Hamas] are ready to fight and want to fight.”
Hamas, backed and funded by Iran, is thought to have started the war in Gaza with 30,000 fighters. So far around 39,623 Palestinians have been killed, according to Hamas.
The IDF also rejected the findings as a whole.
“The majority of Hamas brigades have been dismantled, and most battalions are at a low level of readiness, meaning they cannot function as a military framework,” it said.