Gaza War | UNRWA Director: Workers fired without evidence

of UNRWA workers fired on suspicion of involvement in October Hamas attack fired without evidence, UNRWA chief admits Philippe Lazzarini of The Guardian by.

The UN's Palestinian organization UNRWA handles most of the humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. At the end of January, Israel accused 12 of the organization's employees of participating in an attack by the terrorist organization Hamas in Israel on October 7.

After the suspicion came to light, several countries, including Finland, said they would stop supporting UNRWA. UNRWA has said that the UN's internal inspection unit OIOS has started an investigation into the suspicion.

Shortly after Israel's accusations, UNRWA fired nine of its staff. Lazzarini says he did not investigate Israel's allegations before the dismissal decision and the start of the investigation.

“I could have shelved them, but I fired them. And if the investigation proves that it was a wrong decision, we at the UN will think about how we will compensate them for the dismissal [työntekijöille]”, Lazzarini said at a press conference in Jerusalem, according to the newspaper.

UNRWA has said that operations will probably end in the entire Middle East by the end of February if the organization's funding is not extended. The organization's deputy director told Helsingin Sanomat in Februarythat it has not seen Israeli evidence of the alleged actions of its employees.

Lazzarini defends the dismissals with the sensitivity of the situation and the strength of the accusations.

“I felt then that both the organization's reputation and ability to operate depended on whether I fired them or not. I wanted to show that UNRWA takes such accusations seriously.”

On Thursday, also the Secretary General of the UN António Guterres defended the dismissal decision. He referred to “reliable” Israeli information. According to Guterres, the UN had to act in the face of serious accusations “immediately”.