Israel released more details on Friday about the 12 employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees it accused of participating in the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and kidnappings, including their names, photographs and alleged roles with Hamas.
Additional details included screenshots of what Israel said were two employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a social worker and a mathematics teacher, in Israel on October 7. The Ministry of Defense also provided identification photographs of 10 other suspected Hamas members, their positions and their alleged involvement in the attack, but they did not provide any evidence to support their claims.
CNN could not independently verify the identity of the men or Israel's allegations of their involvement with Hamas.
A UNRWA spokesman said the United Nations' top investigative authority is investigating the matter, but declined to comment on additional details provided by Israel on Friday due to the investigation.
Some background: Israel presented the United Nations, the United States and other allies with a dossier last month that included allegations about these 12 UNRWA employees, out of 13,000 in Gaza, prompting more than a dozen countries to suspend funding to the organization. agency, which plays a central role. to feed and house hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the strip.
UNRWA quickly fired 10 of the 12 staff members accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attacks and launched an investigation into the allegations in hopes of keeping international funds flowing to the agency at a time. critical. The United Nations said two of the 12 had died.
Read more details about Israel's accusations.
