RUTHFULLY YOURS

The U.N. said today that an internal investigation found that nine staffers of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East likely participated in the October 7 terrorist attacks — but that it will not release the details about what they did that day.

The organization revealed that it fired the nine staffers, some of whom it had initially terminated in January when the allegations first surfaced, and that one staffer fired that month had rejoined the scandal-plagued agency, which has used pro-terrorism textbooks in its schools.

While U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq, announcing the findings at a press briefing today, said the employees “may have been involved,” he confirmed that what the organization means is that it is likely or highly likely that the staffers joined the attacks.

After Israel initially told other governments and the U.N. that twelve UNRWA staffers had taken part in October 7, several of those countries, including the U.S., suspended their funding for the agency, and the U.N. kicked off two internal investigations.

Subsequent findings from Israeli intelligence reportedly hold that about 1,200 employees of the organization in Gaza are tied to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The probe, which was conducted by the U.N.’s internal audit division, called the Office of Internal Oversight Services, examined allegations against 19 UNRWA employees and ended with the findings disclosed today, Haq told reporters.

Haq said the OIOS investigation involved visits to Israel and Jordan in addition to the examination of UNRWA data, such as vehicle records.

OIOS could not corroborate Israeli allegations against ten of the 19 UNRWA staffers, including the individual whom the agency rehired, Haq said.

“In nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff members’ involvement and the OIOS investigation of them is now closed,” UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.

Haq did not elaborate on the precise nature of the employees’ “involvement” in the attacks, saying that the OIOS report will remain confidential.

“OIOS investigation reports are strictly confidential. The report has been provided directly to the secretary general and will not be made public,” Haq said, adding that the U.N. General Assembly has voted to allow member states the ability to request to review certain reports from the agency.

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether American officials have reviewed the OIOS report.

The conclusion of a parallel inquiry into UNRWA empaneled by the U.N. leadership this year, focused on the agency’s policies enforcing political “neutrality,” yielded findings that generally cast its operations in a favorable light. This was despite new findings about Hamas’s use of UNRWA facilities for military operations and the discovery of a command center beneath a school run by the U.N. agency.

“The Agency’s priority is to continue lifesaving and critical services for Palestine Refugees in Gaza and across the region, especially in the face of the ongoing war, the instability and risk of regional escalation,” Lazzarini said in his statement today, also reiterating UNRWA’s stated commitment to neutrality and previous condemnation of October 7.

UNRWA last year condemned an Israeli media report alleging that an agency employee had held an Israeli hostage as “misinformation” and demanded that the journalist delete it.

In June, an 84 year-old former Israeli hostage held in captivity by an UNRWA teacher recounted the ordeal in a lawsuit that she and other October 7 victims filed against the agency in federal court.