UN assist company members equipped Hamas with RPGs, took Israeli girl hostage throughout Oct. 7 assaults, damning intel finds

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By Melissa Koenig

The United Nations assist company staffers accused of collaborating in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror assault on Israel included some who supplied rocket-propelled grenades — in addition to others who actively killed and kidnapped Israelis, in response to a damning file of intel given to the US.

Not less than 10 of the 12 fired final week by the United Nations Aid and Works Company (UNRWA) had been lively members of Hamas, whereas one other was affiliated with the Islamic Jihad, in response to the file obtained by the New York Occasions.

Israeli officers stated they tracked the actions of UN assist employees on the day of the assault, utilizing telephone data and telephone calls.

In addition to utilizing the company as a canopy, the terrorists labored by day as lecturers and different college staff, in response to the file, which gave names for the staffers that weren’t printed by the Occasions.

They discovered that no less than one was informed through textual content message to carry rocket-propelled grenades he stored at his home, the file studies.

A social employee additionally gave out ammo, coordinated automobiles and took the physique of a useless Israeli soldier again with him to Gaza, in response to the Israeli intel

A faculty counselor from southern Gaza teamed up together with his son to abduct a girl who turned one of many greater than 200 hostages taken by Hamas terrorists that day, in response to the file.

One different was additionally described as collaborating in a bloodbath at a kibbutz, the place almost 100 individuals had been slaughtered.

In whole, Israeli officers say a dozen staff from the United Nations Aid and Works Company actively took half within the terrorist assault — prompting the help company to announce on Friday that it fired 9 of the staffers who had been nonetheless alive, as an investigation continues. 

Two others have since died, in response to the company.

The US instantly minimize funding to the company within the wake of the allegations, the State Division stated — marking a major reversal from the Biden administration’s sturdy help for UNRWA.

“The USA is extraordinarily troubled by the allegations that 12 UNRWA staff could have been concerned within the October 7 Hamas terrorist assault on Israel,” the division’s assertion stated.

Different nations together with Canada, Italy, Australia, the UK, and Finland have since introduced they had been pausing any further assist to the company.

EU international coverage chief Josep Borrell additionally stated the 27-member bloc was wanting to “assess additional steps and draw classes primarily based on the results of the total and complete investigation.”

However Hamas has slammed Israeli “threats” towards UNRWA, urging the UN and different worldwide teams to not “cave into the threats of blackmail.”

The Palestinian Authority can also be urging international locations to reverse their suspension of funds, calling for “most help for this worldwide group and never stopping help and help to it.”

And over the weekend, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini, argued, “It might be immensely irresponsible to sanction an company and a complete group it serves due to allegations of legal acts towards some people, particularly at a time of conflict, displacement and political crises within the area.

“The lives of individuals in Gaza rely on this help, and so does regional stability.”

Johann Soufi, a lawyer and former director of the UNRWA authorized workplace in Gaza, additionally stated the company “at all times had a zero-tolerance coverage for violence and incitement to hatred.

“Sanctioning UNRWA, which is barely conserving your complete inhabitants of Gaza alive, for the alleged accountability of some staff, is tantamount to collectively punishing the Gazan inhabitants, which resides in catastrophic humanitarian situations.”