Germany Israel presents list of suspected UN employees to Hamas

According to Israel, it has compiled a list of names of employees of the Palestinian relief organization UNRWA who are also allegedly active in the terrorist organization Hamas. The country has identified 108 employees of the organization to whom this applies and presented a corresponding list to UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini, the Israeli embassy in Berlin announced.

According to this, it is only a small number of the hundreds of UNRWA employees who are said to be employed by Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The information cannot currently be independently verified.

According to a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the list has also been submitted to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Israel has not yet published it. The UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency did not initially respond to a request for comment.

UNRWA hit the headlines in January because Israel accused several of its employees of being involved in the massacre on October 7. According to Israel, the organization as a whole has been infiltrated by the Islamist Hamas. Several countries, including Germany, initially suspended their payments to the organization.

An audit report by independent experts later concluded that UNRWA had established "robust" mechanisms to uphold its principle of neutrality. But there was room for improvement. At the beginning of April, Germany announced that it would resume funding for the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

"UNRWA has become a terrorist aid organization. The German government must ensure that German taxpayers' money does not end up with terrorists," demanded Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, according to a statement. Hamas also uses the UN organization's facilities for military purposes, the statement continued.