Hamas infiltrated UNRWA schools in Gaza, reveal documents seized by Israel
Secret documents captured by the Israeli army show that dozens of employees from the UN agency may be linked to terrorist groups
Confidential documents seized by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and shared with The New York Times on Sunday reveal that at least 24 employees of UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that serves Palestinian refugees, are members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
These people worked in 24 different schools out of the 288 managed by the agency in the Palestinian enclave. According to these records, the majority of the identified individuals held administrative positions - directors or assistant directors - while the others were school counselors or teachers. The documents indicate that most of them were terrorists from the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military branch of Hamas.
The case of one of the terrorists, Ahmad al-Khatib, illustrates this dual affiliation: a deputy director of a UNRWA primary school, he was also, according to documents, a section commander within the al-Qassam Brigades in Khan Yunis, an expert in ground combat, and a holder of a dozen weapons.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, stated that the agency takes these allegations seriously, while highlighting the difficulties in conducting investigations. He said that the organization has always been clear that it is not an intelligence or security organization.
Israeli officials accuse the UN of downplaying the problem, and even canceled its mandate earlier this year. "The UN seems determined to present this problem as a few rotten apples, rather than acknowledging that the tree is rotten," said Amir Weissbrod, deputy director for the UN and International Organizations Division of Foreign Ministry.
James Lindsay, former general counsel for UNRWA until 2007, confirmed these flaws. The UN has not been able or has not wanted to eliminate Hamas militants and their supporters, as well as those from other terrorist groups, from their ranks, he said, adding that UNRWA's hiring practices and workforce composition suggest that the figures put forward by the Israelis are probably quite close to the truth.