A report produced by the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) found that more than 100 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) had participated in the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel or maintained links with Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.
According to the newspaper New York Postthe American body referred 101 names from the agency for suspension or barring from participation in programs financed with money from United States taxpayers for having links to Hamas. The measure could bar these employees and former employees from receiving American foreign aid resources for ten years. According to the summary of the investigation, the names mentioned include school principals, teachers, security staff, attendants, psychosocial counselors and health professionals linked to UNRWA.
The report states that some of these employees held positions at the UN agency and roles within Hamas. According to the New York Postthe report notes that a UNRWA deputy school director also served as deputy commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades. Another deputy school principal was said to have been a squad leader in a Hamas brigade from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The investigation also found that the agency’s professors had performed military or intelligence functions for Hamas and other allied terrorist groups. One of them, according to the report, would have carried anti-tank missiles to assist the Palestinian terrorist group during the October 7 massacre. In that attack, Hamas terrorists invaded communities in Israel, killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped civilians.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told Israeli media that it is no surprise that an additional 100 UNRWA employees have been identified as being involved in the October 7 attack. He said President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have already stated that no State Department resources will be sent to UNRWA, which he said has been “completely infiltrated by Hamas and terrorist sympathizers.” In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing American funding from UNRWA.