The assessment indicates that the US has fully lost faith in the organization after months of revelations that at least a dozen UNRWA employees participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel
The Trump administration has formally determined that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Hamas-linked humanitarian group, cannot be salvaged and must be disbanded, according to a non-public notification transmitted to Congress and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The State Department “has not funded UNRWA since January 2024, does not have any ongoing programming with UNRWA, and is maintaining a policy of minimal contact with” the organization, according to the July 29 notice transmitted to Congress. “The Administration has determined UNRWA is irredeemably compromised and now seeks its full dismantlement.”
The Trump administration’s assessment indicates the United States has fully lost faith in UNRWA after months of revelations that at least a dozen agency employees participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacres and worked alongside the terror group in Gaza. The move formally codifies the administration’s position that UNRWA must be dismantled and starts the process of working toward that goal.
Hamas has continued to steal UNRWA aid supplies and resell them on the black market, the Free Beacon reported on Thursday, with armed Hamas members hijacking trucks carrying goods meant to make their way to Gaza’s civilian population. At least 12 percent of all U.N. employees in Gaza are members of Hamas or other terrorist organizations, and many of the workers identified for the Free Beacon as Hamas members drive the aid trucks themselves.
While UNRWA has promised to implement widespread reforms, its continued failure to stop Hamas from exploiting U.N.-controlled aid channels—alongside its relationship with the terror group—demonstrates that there cannot be a future for the agency in Gaza, according to a senior State Department official.
“UNRWA exists to provide cover for Hamas,” the official said. “They are completely corrupt and should be disbanded.”
Hamas demanded in the most recent round of ceasefire talks with the United States that UNRWA retake control of humanitarian aid networks in Gaza, replacing the U.S.-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Free Beacon first reported earlier this month. That demand provided further evidence to the Trump administration that UNRWA is compromised and serving Hamas’s interests.
The Trump administration initially announced the United States’ withdrawal from UNRWA in February, citing the agency’s known link to Hamas and its failure to deliver aid to civilians in Gaza. The U.S. government also received “evidence that several UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel,” according to the State Department.
The next month, the Trump administration officially requested that UNRWA “return all remaining unspent balances of U.S. funding in its accounts,” but the U.N. body has not done so, the congressional notice states.
“An April 8, 2025, letter, signed by the UNRWA Washington Field Office Director, indicated UNRWA would do so but has not yet completed this action,” the State Department said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally ordered all agency personnel in May “to cease U.S. participation in all working-level UNRWA bodies” at the United Nations.
Gazans who spoke with the Free Beacon in recent days said they have witnessed armed Hamas militants hijacking UNRWA aid trucks.
“Fifty trucks arrived yesterday at warehouses in Gaza City, and Hamas stole all of the aid,” said Moumen Al-Natour, a 30-year-old lawyer in Gaza. “Hamas has unfortunately been able to infiltrate the mechanism of the United Nations for a long time.”
