What is UNRWA?
UNRWA is a UN agency responsible for providing “humanitarian assistance” to Palestinian refugees in multiple sectors such as health care, social services and “emergency assistance including in situations of armed conflict.”
As of today, it has been confirmed that 9 employees of the UN organization participated in the October 7 massacre ;however, the organization has idly stood by Hamas terrorist activities that exploit their infrastructure before this date.
The Connection Between UNRWA and Hamas
Since October 7, evidence of numerous incidents of Hamas exploiting UNRWA infrastructure and UNRWA employees being involved in terrorist activity has been exposed. Civilians in Gaza have even stated that UNRWA is Hamas.
Throughout the current war and long before it, Hamas exploited equipment and infrastructure belonging to UNRWA as part of its method of warfare. The intelligence gathered on Hamas strongly indicates that it systematically uses UNRWA's vehicles, warehouses, apartments, and even the agency's headquarters, as headquarters, accommodation complexes, and weapons depots.
According to the most recent intelligence findings:
- Among the 12,521 UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip, at least 1,462 (12%) are members of Hamas or other designated terrorist organizations.
- Out of 546 principals and deputy-principals in UNRWA's education facilities, at least 80 (15%) are members of terrorist organizations.
UNRWA employees actively participated in the October 7th attacks on Israel
How Does Hamas Exploit UNRWA facilities?
UNRWA schools have become a central location for Hamas to conduct terrorist activities during the current war and in recent months increasingly. Since October 7, the IDF has uncovered numerous UNRWA schools being used by Hamas as military facilities, command and control centers, for storing weapons, and to execute terrorist attacks. Hamas constructed terror tunnels beneath the schools, often placing tunnel shafts within or directly beside these educational compounds. In at least two verified instances, the principals of such schools were themselves members of Hamas’s military wing.
Throughout the current war, there have been several instances of Hamas conducting terrorist activities from UNRWA headquarters. Hamas operated an advanced server farm for its central intelligence command beneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters, drawing power directly from the agency’s facilities.
UNRWA equipment such as UNRWA-labeled bags have been used as a means to hold materials for Hamas to build terrorist infrastructure and conduct terrorist activities. These bags have contained explosives and several weapons.
In a 200-page Hamas military field manual titled, "Military Engineering Fundamentals - Stage Three, Obstacles", there is a sub-chapter called "Civilian Facilities," which states:
"These are the civilian facilities that fighters can use: homes, schools, universities, hospitals, bridges, electricity companies, legislative councils, mosques, markets... Depending on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the nature of the guerrilla fighting, civilian facilities are considered the best obstacles to defend the resistance. If the resistance would be isolated from its people, it would easily be destroyed by the Zionist enemy."
