Hundreds of UNRWA employees maintained ties to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front, UN Watch research shows. The data was gathered over a decade and shows how deeply rooted and extensive the "relief agency for Palestinian refugees" relationship system is with terror organizations in Gaza and abroad.
The evidence includes testimonies, video documentation, and accumulated documents that revealed the involvement of hundreds of UNRWA employees in terror, incitement, and actual membership in terror organizations. In total, 490 verified cases of agency employees who praised massacre acts, incited violence, or actively worked within the organizations themselves are shown.
Among the employees are very senior UNRWA figures. Pierre Krähenbühl, the former commissioner, was documented in a series of work meetings with Hamas senior Suhail al-Hindi, a member of the Political Bureau in Gaza. Al-Hindi himself worked at UNRWA as a teacher and was promoted to a senior role as head of the teachers' branch in the agency's union in Gaza. In this role, he also served as principal of an UNRWA school. He currently lives abroad.
During the war, Issam Al-Daalis was killed. He served as "Hamas' shadow prime minister" and a Political Bureau member in Gaza. Al-Daalis also served as a teacher and head of the teachers' branch in the UNRWA workers' union.
Another senior Hamas figure mentioned is Muhammad al-Jamasi, who was killed in the war. Al-Jamasi was employed at UNRWA for 16 years as an engineer. Additionally, Hamas senior in Lebanon, Fathi Sharif, simultaneously served as a senior in UNRWA's teachers' organization. The research revealed a total of 61 senior terrorists with UNRWA ties.
One of the well-known figures is Mahmoud al-Zahar, a veteran leader of Hamas. His daughter, Samah Mahmoud al-Zahar, worked for a decade as a UNRWA teacher and as an administrative assistant in a regional agency office. Her husband, incidentally, was Ahmed Rajab Awad, head of Hamas's weapons production unit, who was killed in 2006.
Beyond this, it was revealed for the first time that UNRWA school principals and senior teachers were part of the founding generation of Hamas and the Popular Front. Among them are Ahmed Nimer Hamdan, Hammad al-Hasanat, Muhammad Hassan Shama'a, Ibrahim Abu Salem, Abdullah Abu Azza, Ghassan Kanafani, Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, Jamal Khatab, Muhammad Tah, and Jamil Alyan.
The name of October 7 massacre architect Yahya Sinwar, also appears among the findings. A 2021 meeting between him and UNRWA's deputy commissioner, Leni Stenseth, was documented. During the meeting, the Norwegian diplomat apologized for statements made by the agency's then-director, who said "the IDF's strikes were accurate." She even thanked Sinwar for "his positive approach and willingness to continue cooperation in facilitating the agency's work in Gaza."
In the Islamic Jihad sector, the name of the organization's operative, Unni Karunakara, is mentioned. He is a "social studies" teacher at UNRWA and an agency union member. Israel took the trouble to inform the agency about its Islamic Jihad activity as early as 2011, but nothing was done. Another Islamic Jihad operative who worked at UNRWA is Awad al-Qiq, who served as deputy principal of a UNRWA school. Another example is Ashraf al-Madhoun, an agency employee who simultaneously served as an operative in the organization.
The research also shows "random" cases of pure antisemitism among UNRWA employees. For example, agency employee Ahmed Khalifa shared a Hitler video on Facebook. Adnan Sardana, another employee, shared a video calling to attack Tel Aviv. Another UNRWA employee in Lebanon, whose name is Tarek Abu Rizla, celebrated the murder of Jews and praised Hamas.
"This tool exposes what UNRWA and its supporters tried to hide for years," UN Watch CEO Hillel Neuer said. "UNRWA claims they are a humanitarian agency, but the evidence proves this agency is crawling with Hamas agents. Many of its employees are not impartial civil servants but terrorists in UN uniforms. The problem isn't 'a few rotten apples in the barrel,' as the International Court of Justice ruled last week. The problem is structural, widespread, and deliberately created. To continue funding UNRWA is not humanitarian work – it's a silent consent to terror acts."
"The hundreds of UNRWA employees exposed are just the tip of the iceberg," Neuer added. "For decades, UNRWA operated without any oversight while billions of dollars in aid money flowed to Gaza from the international community. Donor governments must decide – will they continue writing open checks to an agency that builds Hamas or will they demand it take responsibility?"
Precisely in these days, international figures are applying pressure so that UNRWA will nevertheless be integrated into the post-war agenda in Gaza. "As we consider how post-war Gaza should look, one thing is clear – it should be a Gaza free from UNRWA," Neuer clarifies.
