Israel yet to show evidence of UN links to Hamas massacre

Israel has refused to co-operate with a United Nations investigation into its claims that members of the UN Palestinian refugee agency were involved in the October 7 attacks.

A dozen workers from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have been accused of supporting the massacre of 1200 Israelis by distributing ammunition, abducting hostages and co-ordinating transportation.

The allegations, which first surfaced on January 26, resulted in the United States, United Kingdom and 14 other countries freezing funding for UNRWA. Days later, the UN launched an independent investigation to examine the claims.

However, UN investigators have yet to receive any evidence from the Israelis, according to three sources with knowledge of the probe despite this week spending “several days” in the country on a fact-finding mission.

Officials from the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services were invited to Jerusalem by the Israeli Government to “advance the investigation”, a UN spokesman said.

The expectation was that the team would speak directly to Israeli officials and those involved in compiling a dossier of intelligence that allegedly supports the claims against UNRWA’s staff.

The UN investigators left the country without any substantial evidence to support Israel’s claims, a spokesman said.

Israel’s intelligence is said to include geolocation data from the employees’ mobiles, as well as intercepted texts and phone calls.

Israel’s own allies have similarly been kept in the dark. Last month, the reported that Israel had not shared the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the US. On Friday, the European Union’s top humanitarian aid official also said he had seen no evidence from Israel to support its accusations against UNRWA’s staff.

Completion of the UN investigation is eagerly awaited by the multiple UNRWA donors which withdrew their funding because of Israel’s allegations, leaving the agency with a US$450 million ($739m) gap in its budget.

Although the US and UK are waiting for the investigation findings, several other donors have already resumed payments, including Canada and Australia.