Israeli security dossier accuses UNRWA staff of entering Israel, and one allegedly kidnapped a woman
TEL AVIV — An Israeli security dossier obtained by NBC News sheds new light on allegations that 12 staff members from the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees took part in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath.
The allegations have led the U.S. and at least 10 other countries to suspend funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), just as the organization is struggling to provide humanitarian support to more than a million Palestinians in Gaza.
The six-page dossier names 12 members of UNRWA staff but does not provide evidence for the allegations made against them. It claims that around 190 UNWRA staff are members of either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. NBC News has not been able to independently verify the claims made in the dossier.
A counselor at a UNRWA school is alleged to have taken part in the kidnapping of a female hostage on Oct. 7. A social worker is accused of transporting an Israeli soldier’s body into Gaza. Ten of the 12 men named in the dossier are said to be members of Hamas. Another is alleged to be an Islamic Jihad activist, while the final man has no known affiliation. At least two of them have been killed since Oct. 7, the dossier states.
UNRWA announced on Friday that Israeli authorities had passed on the allegations. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday that nine of the surviving staff members were terminated, and the identities of two others needed confirmation. The U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services launched an investigation.
Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's commissioner-general, said the organization's work and the lifeline it provides to more than 2 million people in Gaza is collapsing.
"I am shocked such decisions are taken based on alleged behavior of a few individuals and as the war continues, needs are deepening and famine looms,” he said in a post on X yesterday. “Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains all of us.”
Dozens of people, ‘mostly women and children,’ killed, Palestinian Information Ministry says
Dozens of Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed and many others wounded in Israeli attacks in Gaza over the last 48 hours, the Palestinian Information Ministry said today.
It said that at least 350 people were killed in Gaza, with at least 24 of them in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, as heavy fighting continued in the area.
Medical sources also told the Information Ministry that journalist Issam Al-lulu and his wife and two sons were killed in the central area of Al-Zawaida. A total of 121 journalists have been killed since Oct. 7 when Hamas launched attacks on Israel, the ministry said.
NBC News was not able to independently verify the killing of Al-lulu.
Ex-Obama envoy: Jordan attack holds 'significant' escalation risk
The attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers presents the biggest risk for regional escalation since the Hamas attacks and Israel's war, a former senior American diplomat says.
Frank Lowenstein, former special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under President Barack Obama, outlined the delicate task ahead for the Biden administration.
“Whatever we do in response to this will be carefully calibrated to send as strong a message as we can to Iran — without tripping the wire and getting Iran more directly involved in this conflict,” he said.
He called the deadly attack on U.S. troops claimed by Iran-backed militias “a significant step on the path of escalation,” which “brings the risk of a broader regional conflict of greater intensity than we’ve seen so far, right to the forefront of our calculations.”
What worries experts the most, he added, “is a big war between Israel and Hezbollah,” the Lebanese militant group also backed by Iran that has been exchanging daily missile fire with Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
What this “highlights for the Biden administration,” he added, “is the importance of getting this cease-fire in place as soon as possible. That’s really the best chance for de-escalation in the region.”
Oxygen runs out at key hospital in southern Gaza, Red Crescent says
Oxygen has run out at the Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis, forcing the surgical department to cease operations, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said today on X, as Israel intensifies its campaign in southern Gaza.
"The situation inside Al-Amal Hospital is tragic," it said.
At least three displaced people sheltering there have been killed, it said, including a nurse's brother. The PRCS said its ambulances are also unable to reach the wounded because of the continued gunfire.
Families have been evacuating to the PRCS headquarters and the hospital due to the "morning threats by the occupation to clear residents" in the area, it added.
European Commission to review UNRWA funding
The European Commission said in a statement today that it will review whether to continue funding the U.N. Palestinian aid agency in light of allegations that some of its employees were involved in Hamas Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
“The Commission will review the matter in light of the outcome of the investigation announced by the U.N. and the actions it will take,” the statement said, adding that it welcomed the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's offer to provide information and launch investigations.
Calling for a full investigation, the E.U.’s executive branch added that no additional funding would be given to the aid agency until the end of February.
Several countries in the European Union, including Finland and Austria, have already announced they will suspend UNRWA funding because of the allegations.
Right-wing ministers among thousands calling for Israeli settlement of Gaza
Several ministers within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government were among thousands of people who flocked to a conference in Jerusalem last night, calling on Israel to rebuild settlements in both Gaza and the northern parts of the occupied West Bank.
Rocket sirens sound in central Israel after weeks of silence
TEL AVIV — Rocket sirens blared over central Israel and Tel Aviv for the first time in weeks today.
In a statement, Hamas military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said it had launched a “missile barrage” toward the city.
It was unclear if there were any casualties.
Missile attacks from Gaza have dropped significantly in the past few weeks with Israeli forces deepening their campaign in the enclave and moving through the south.
Residents living in some northern neighborhoods should move to southern Gaza, IDF says
Residents living in a number of neighborhoods in northern Gaza were urged to head south by the Israel Defense Forces this morning.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arab media spokesman, posted a map of areas to be evacuated on X today, including the Al-Shati refugee camp in the northwest of the enclave.
The Israeli military has previously ordered residents in the north to move south, but in recent weeks it has intensified operations around the southern city of Khan Younis.
Iran executes four convicted of working for Israeli spy agency
Four people who were convicted of working for Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, were executed today in Iran, the state-run IRNA news agency reported, citing the Islamic Republic’s judiciary.
All four were arrested in July 2022 by Iranian security forces and accused of planning to target a factory in the central city of Isfahan affiliated with the Defense Ministry, IRNA reported.
They were sentenced to death last September after their actions were considered espionage cooperation for Israel, the agency said.
IRNA identified them as Iranian nationals: Mohammad Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi.
The four were also charged with managing “terrorist” groups to undermine national security, IRNA said, adding that an appeal court upheld the death sentence after re-examining the verdict.
Iran denies it was behind drone strike on U.S. base in Jordan
Iran was not behind a drone strike on a U.S. military base in Jordan that left three soldiers dead, state media in the Islamic Republic reported today.
The conflict between the U.S. and resistance groups in the region triggered the “retaliatory attacks,” an unnamed representative told the IRNA news agency last night. The person added that Tehran had no link or connection to the attack on facility near Jordan's border with Syria.
The deadly drone strike, which also wounded dozens of U.S. troops, was the first to kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.