Israel gives U.N. Palestinian agency list of 100 terrorist staffers

Israel is accusing the U.N. relief agency for Palestinians of keeping more than 100 Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists on its payroll in the Gaza Strip and is demanding they be fired.

Israeli foreign ministry officials sent a letter to Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, listing the names and ID numbers of the staffers it says are terrorists, the German newspaper Bild reported Friday.

The letter says additional names will be released of UNRWA staffers linked to terror organizations such as Hamas. Officials in Jerusalem said the terrorist presence in the relief organization constitutes a threat to Israel’s security.

In their letter, the Israeli government officials said they would provide the information about the terrorists to UNRWA’s international donors.

“The refugee organization in Gaza does not only have terrorists in its ranks; UNRWA facilities have long been misused by Hamas as terrorist bases,” Bild said in its report.

Israel has accused UNRWA staffers of taking part in Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage that resulted in the deaths of some 1,200 people and more than 250 others taken hostage. Bild said the German government is backing UNRWA and has sent “millions” of euros in financial support to the agency.

“This is a list of shame! Friendly teacher in the morning; terrorist in the evening. How does that fit together? UNRWA has become a terrorist aid organization,” Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, posted Thursday on X. “The German government must ensure that German tax money does not end up with terrorists. We can no longer close our eyes!”

UNRWA officials said it has about 13,000 staffers working in Gaza, the majority Palestinian, and takes seriously its responsibility to ensure they adhere to U.N. humanitarian principles.

“The agency takes swift action whenever any staff member is found to have acted in contravention of its regulatory framework,” they said in a statement. “The range of disciplinary sanctions applied include — often in combination — fines, suspension from duty, demotion, up to termination of employment.”