The New York Times has confirmed that UNRWA employees in Gaza were also terrorists affiliated with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups and were provided with weapons.

According to the report, at least 24 people employed in 24 different UNRWA schools were members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or another terror group. Most of the two dozen served as principals, vice principals, school counselors, and teachers.

Among the trove of documents Israel seized are secret Hamas plans showing that the terror group believes that schools and other civilian sites are “the best obstacles to protect the resistance.”

In several cases, these educators remained in their positions even after UNRWA was informed that they were terrorists. The dual terrorist-UNRWA employee profile is not unique to Gaza: In September, a Hamas terrorist serving as a school principal in Lebanon was eliminated. That terrorist formerly headed UNWRA’s teachers’ union in Lebanon as well.

UNRWA has claimed that it takes the “allegations” seriously, and told the Times that one employee had been placed on administrative leave and the UN had requested additional information on ten others.

Gaza residents said in interviews that the matter was an “open secret” and that one educator was regularly seen after hours in Hamas fatigues and carrying a Kalashnikov rifle.

At least one-third of the 24 were given the tools to participate in active combat, the Times added. At least one of the employees participated in a rocket-launching training course in 2023.

Khaled al-Masri, principal of an UNRWA school in Gaza under which a terror tunnel passed, is a Hamas member who was provided with an assault rifle and a handgun. On Facebook, he is pictured standing in front of a Hamas banner. Upon the tunnel’s discovery, UNRWA claimed that it lodged a protest with Hamas and moved to seal entrances to the tunnel.

James Lindsay, who served as UNRWA’s general counsel until 2007, told the Times that the UN has no way to ensure its employees are not affiliated with terror groups. He added that the UN has been “unable and/ or unwilling to eliminate Hamas militants and their supporters, as well as those from other terrorist groups, from their rank.”

“UNRWA hiring practices and the makeup of the labor pool from which UNRWA draws its employees suggests to me that the numbers the Israelis are talking about are probably pretty close to the truth.”

In January, quoting intelligence groups, the Wall Street Journal reported that around 10% of UNRWA employees in Gaza have ties to terror groups.

According to the report, “around 1,200 of UNRWA’s roughly 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and about half have close relatives” who belong to the terror groups.

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