WASHINGTON — The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has fired 70 staffers based in the Gaza Strip after more than 100 of its employees’ ties to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel were uncovered by a federal watchdog probe.
UNRWA Commissioner-General ad interim Christian Saunders said in a statement Thursday that the mass sacking was “not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against” the workers.
Saunders added that the culling was part of “an assessment of the safety and security of UNRWA operations in Gaza.”
“UNRWA has repeatedly asked the Israeli authorities to provide information and evidence to substantiate allegations against individual UNRWA staff members in Gaza but has received no response to date,” he also said.
“The decision was taken in the interests of the Agency as provided for by UNRWA’s legal framework. Its purpose is to mitigate safety and security risks for the refugees the Agency serves under its mandate and for UNRWA personnel and premises.”
On Monday, the US Agency for International Development’s internal watchdog (USAID OIG) referred more than 100 UNRWA staff for suspension or debarment from taking taxpayer funds for the enxt 10 years over their roles in helping Hamas carry out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
“It’s quite telling that it took the USAID Inspector General’s independent investigation for UNRWA to recognize that it has a Hamas problem,” a senior State Department official told The Post Friday.
“USAID OIG’s investigation will also enable aid organizations to avoid hiring Hamas members whose interests serve terror rather than those in need.”
In total, 108 UNRWA employees will be barred from receiving US funding based on their “participation” in the attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel — including 46 US citizens — or their “affiliation” with Hamas.
“Among the individuals referred were UNRWA school principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counselors, and medical professionals,” the USAID OIG’s investigative summary stated.
Senate Republicans, led by Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), have called on President Trump to “fully dismantle UNRWA” and eliminate it from the United Nations’ budget over the agency’s exposed Hamas affiliation.
An administration source familiar with discussions about the matter confirmed there have been talks inside the White House of using funding cutoffs “to force the UN to break from UNRWA.”
Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 yanking federal funding for UNRWA, which had previously received between $350 and $360 million in voluntary contributions from Washington.
More than $839 million flowed directly to the agency from other countries that calendar year.
The UN’s annual budget, to which the US still contributes, earmarks around $70 million for UNRWA, giving the agency a total budget of nearly $1 billion.
USAID OIG’s probe is investigating up to 1,500 UNRWA employees.
Parallel investigations are also being conducted by the Department of Justice and FBI, two sources familiar with the work previously said.