A group of GOP senators cited the UN agency’s ties to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups in a Thursday letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio
The United States must not allow the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to participate in any post-war Gaza plan, a group of 25 Republican senators led by Pete Ricketts (Neb.) wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, citing the organization’s ties to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups.
“As discussions on Gaza’s future continue, we must avoid repeating the mistakes that empowered the terror group to take hold in the first place,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. “For decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has operated in Gaza, yet extensive reporting, investigations, and intelligence assessments documented systemic infiltration of the agency by Hamas and other U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.”
Intelligence Israel presented to the United Nations indicated that at least 19 UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, contradicting the agency’s categorical denials that any of its employees work with Hamas. The United Nations fired 9 of those employees but retained 10 others, suggesting UNRWA may still employ terrorists who played a role in the Oct. 7 massacres.
As the Free Beacon reported in September, Hamas leaders have controlled UNRWA’s on-the-ground operations since at least 2011, enabling the terror group to put its members in teaching and administrative positions to spread its jihadist ideology. Hamas members have served as leaders of UNRWA schools and unions, and UNRWA’s educational materials include references to “jihad,” lessons on the “hobby” of dying as a martyr and killing Israeli civilians, descriptions of Jews as “inherently treacherous,” and accusations that the Jewish people have defiled the Holy Land with their presence.
Hamas’s infiltration of UNRWA reached the point that about 10 percent of the agency’s 12,000-person workforce is linked to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to Israeli intelligence reports. Israel also found that 49 percent of UNRWA staffers had close relatives with official ties to terror groups, and 23 percent of UNRWA’s male employees had some level of involvement with Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
The letter comes as figures within the United Nations seek to restore UNRWA’s operations in Gaza. A senior U.N. official jockeying for a role in the post-war reconstruction process has argued to the Trump administration that UNRWA is the only organization capable of handling aid in the territory. The International Court of Justice, as well, ruled in October that Israel is obligated to allow the agency to work in Gaza and to facilitate its humanitarian relief efforts. The Trump administration, for its part, notified Congress in July of its position that “UNRWA is irredeemably compromised.” The notice also states that the administration believes the agency must be dismantled.
The group of senators, praising Rubio for his recent vow that UNRWA “is not going to play any role” in the delivery of aid to Gaza, asked the secretary of state to take steps to enforce that promise.
“We strongly urge the administration to ensure that UNRWA play no role in any efforts to stabilize, govern, and rebuild Gaza,” they wrote. “Instead, we encourage the United States to work with vetted international partners, trusted regional actors, and nongovernmental organizations that are demonstrably free of terrorist influence and committed to transparency, accountability, and peace.”
