UNRWA Fires 70 Gaza Employees Over Hamas Ties; UN Watch Says It’s “Just a Drop in the Bucket”

UNRWA’s acting chief, Christian Saunders, ordered the dismissal of 70 agency employees in the Gaza Strip over their ties to Hamas. The move came amid mounting pressure on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, following a series of investigations and reports focused on the scope of the connections between agency employees and the terror organization.

At monitoring group UN Watch, officials welcomed the decision but stressed that it was only a limited step compared with the scale of the problem they say exists בתוך the agency. The organization’s executive director, Hillel Neuer, said, "It’s just a drop in the bucket. There are another 1,500 Hamas members receiving salaries from the UN."

According to him, "Our ongoing documentation of Hamas’s deep infiltration into UNRWA, including the ‘terror network’ map we developed, which identifies at least 400 operatives—alongside referrals from the inspector general of the American aid agency—finally forced the agency to act."

UN Watch says this is only the beginning of a much longer process. Neuer added that "the step taken today is only the beginning," and noted that over the years the organization has published findings alleging that teachers, school principals, and other UNRWA employees were involved in Hamas activity. According to him, those involved also included senior figures in the terror organization who held key positions in the agency’s labor unions.

Alongside the dismissals, UN Watch sharply criticized UNRWA’s official statement. The agency said it had asked Israel to provide evidence regarding the allegations but had received no response. It also emphasized that the dismissals "do not in any way constitute confirmation of the allegations" and that the decision was made solely for reasons of "safety and security."

The monitoring group argues that this position creates an internal contradiction. According to its claim, on one hand the agency is firing employees because of the suspicions against them, while on the other hand it refuses to officially acknowledge the reason that led to their dismissal. In its view, this conduct reflects an attempt to limit the reputational damage to the organization rather than take full responsibility for the infiltration of figures identified with Hamas into its ranks.

The UNRWA workers’ union in Gaza, which UN Watch says has been run for years by employees tied to Hamas, including Suhail al-Hindi, also opposed the decision. Union representatives described the dismissals as an "arbitrary" step carried out "without a fair investigation," called for their immediate reversal, and announced an emergency meeting aimed at taking action against the move.

Neuer added: "When the union representing UNRWA employees is itself controlled by Hamas activists, it’s no surprise they oppose removing their colleagues. This is not the conduct of a neutral humanitarian agency, but of an organization captured by a terror group."