UNWRA ia a terrorist organization that is ENDING

What to Know about UNRWA and Its Controversial Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
UNRWA
November 24, 2025

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been a focal point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for several decades, and while it defines its position as providing essential support for Palestinians across the Middle East, many questions have been raised about its place in perpetuating the conflict and incitement to violence.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, further questions have been raised about the agency’s ties with Hamas, and what function, if any, it would fulfill in a post-war Gaza. On January 26, 2024, the U.S. announced it would temporarily pause funding to UNRWA after Israel revealed that at least a dozen employees were allegedly involved in the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.

Here’s what to know about UNRWA, why it's controversial, and its role in the Israel-Hamas war.

What is UNRWA and why was it started?

UNRWA was established in 1949, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as Israel’s War of Independence. The agency was created in response to the displacement of Palestinians resulting from the conflict, notably after the rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan by Arab states and the subsequent war waged by Palestinian irregular forces against Israel as well as five Arab countries following Israel’s independence in May 1948. UNRWA’s goal is to provide Palestinians with humanitarian assistance and quasi-state services.

UNRWA is also unique from other international refugee agencies in two ways.

First, UNRWA is separate from the United Nations’ main agency that handles refugees and displaced persons, known as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), created in 1950-51. UNHCR handles all other refugees, while UNRWA is solely dedicated to Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Secondly, UNRWA is unique in that its policy allows the inheritance of refugee status across generations. This practice has expanded the original count of an estimated 750,000 Palestinian refugees to over 5 million today, significantly amplifying the refugee issue in the region.

Where does UNRWA get its funding?

UNRWA's funding primarily comes from voluntary contributions of UN member states. In 2022, significant donors included the United States, Germany, the European Union, and Sweden, together contributing over 60% of UNRWA's budget of $1.6 billion.

In 2023, the U.S. provided $422 million to UNRWA.

In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump suspended U.S. funding to the agency, accusing it of bias and incitement against Israel. President Biden restored the funding in 2021.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood, then-Alternate Representative of the U.S. for Special Political Affairs in the United Nations, spoke about U.S. support for UNRWA at the UN Security Council in December 2023.

“…UNRWA must be supported – and the United States has provided more than $422 million to its 2023 appeals to that end. …ultimately, we must all work towards a two-state solution, which serves as the only foundation for a truly sustainable peace.”

The U.S. suspended its funding again in January 2024 after the revelations that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7, 2023, terror attacks on Israel.

What were UNRWA’s ties to the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel?

According to Israeli intelligence reports, at least 12 employees of UNRWA were part of the unprecedented Hamas terror assault on Israel on October 7, which left 1,200 people dead and over 250 taken hostage on the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Israel revealed that six UNRWA workers were part of the wave of terrorists who breached the Gaza-Israel border and massacred civilians inside of Israel. Additionally, two helped to kidnap Israelis, two others were tracked to sites where hundreds of Israeli civilians were shot and killed. Others coordinated logistics for the assault, including procuring weapons.

Among the 12 UNRWA employees who were linked to the terror attacks, seven were primary or secondary school teachers, including two math teachers, two Arabic language teachers, and one primary school teacher.

Israeli intelligence seen by The Wall Street Journal identified that a UNRWA Arabic teacher was also a Hamas commander and took part in the terrorist attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 innocent people were slaughtered in their homes in the early morning of October 7, and about 26 people were taken hostage.

Also, according to The Wall Street Journal report, Israeli intelligence estimates shared with the U.S. conclude that around 1,200 of UNRWA’s estimated 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to the Iranian-backed Gaza terror groups Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Israeli journalist Almog Boker, a reporter with Israel’s Channel 13, shared the testimony of an Israeli taken on October 7 who was held hostage and starved by a UNRWA teacher. UNRWA has called on the reporter to provide more information or retract the claim.

What has been the international reaction to UNRWA-October 7 links?

Israeli intelligence has briefed the U.S. on the findings, which led to the U.S. announcement on January 26, 2024, that it would temporarily suspend funding to the UN Agency.

“The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them,” then-spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

“There must be complete accountability for anyone who participated in the heinous attacks of October 7,” he added.

Several other countries also joined the U.S. in suspending payments to UNRWA, including the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, and Japan. With the exception of the U.S, these countries have since resumed funding, though Italy has announced that it would cease working with UNRWA in the Gaza Strip itself. While the Netherlands said they would diversify the recipients of their funding of aid for Palestinians to avoid overreliance on UNRWA, these countries have all insisted that there is currently no alternative actor able to provide the wide range of services UNRWA provides, both in Gaza and the other areas where UNRWA operates.

In his first direct comments on the issue made in January 2024, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world body would hold to account “any UN employee involved in acts of terror” and called them “abhorrent alleged acts,” but also implored governments to continue to support the UN refugee agency for Palestinians.

"The tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized,” he said. “The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met."

Of the 12 employees implicated, nine have been fired, one was confirmed dead, and the identities of two others were being clarified.

How did the UN investigate and hold UNRWA to account?

After 16 UN member states, including the U.S., pulled economic support from the agency in January 2024, the UN commissioned the Colonna report, named for former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna who led the panel. The report, issued four months later, validated concerns about UNRWA’s governance, politicization, and the hijacking of the agency, its facilities, and its mandate for Hamas-led purposes.

The report also confirmed that stronger safeguarding mechanisms are necessary to ensure UNRWA adheres to the humanitarian principle of neutrality, which dictates that humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious, or ideological nature. The report recommended the formation of a governance board to regularly report on neutrality issues.

Rare for a UN report on one of its entities, the Colonna report acknowledged problems with how UNRWA operates, including the permissive environment on problematic content in textbooks, supplemental material and teaching content, the politicization of staff unions and the need to better vet and train staff, and the “misuse” of UNRWA facilities – including an allusion to storing weapons, building tunnels, and other activities unrelated to a humanitarian mission.

UNRWA has committed to implementing all of the recommendations in the Colonna report, but has claimed that much of the implementation is dependent on increased funding and further action by states. So far, the oversight mechanisms of UNRWA have been strengthened, and they have committed to more proactive information sharing with Israel as well as social media monitoring of their local employees.

Why is UNRWA so controversial?

UNRWA is controversial because, unlike all other refugee situations worldwide, Palestinians have a dedicated refugee agency.

There are currently 35.3 million registered refugees worldwide, of whom 29.4 million are under the mandate of UNHCR. The remaining 5.9 million people are under UNRWA’s mandate. The existence of a separate agency to deal with Palestinian refugees, while all other refugees are under UNHCR’s mandate, is why UNRWA is controversial.

Another long-held controversy regarding UNRWA has been the accusation that it has played a role in perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. First, granting refugee status to the descendants of Palestinian refugees has ensured that the number of refugees will continue to grow each successive generation.

At the same time, many also believe that Arab nations have used UNRWA to perpetuate the conflict against Israel. Aside from Jordan, most Palestinian refugees have not been granted citizenship in their host countries, despite residing there for nearly 75 years.

In 1952, Lt. Gen. Alexander Galloway, director of UNRWA in Jordan, stated, “It is perfectly clear that Arab nations do not want to solve the Arab refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront against the United Nations, and as a weapon against Israel.”

In addition, Palestinians living in UNRWA refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, who have never crossed an international border in previous wars, are still considered by the UN as refugees. In every other case, a person must be forced to leave one country and cross an international border to be deemed a refugee by the UN.

Throughout the conflict, there have been examples of Hamas terrorists using UNRWA facilities and equipment for their activities. For example, in December 2024, in Gaza, following information regarding Hamas terrorists hiding inside schools, the IDF raided Al Rafaa and Zavaha schools in Tuffah in the northern Gaza Strip. During the encounter with the terrorists and their elimination, the soldiers located dozens of explosive devices in UNRWA bags, Kalashnikovs, and 15 explosive belts. In one of Hamas’ attempts to attack Israeli soldiers, a terrorist fired an anti-tank missile at the IDF position.

UNRWA's controversy also partially stems from its educational role. A recent report by the watchdog group IMPACT-se highlighted that UNRWA's educational materials, based on the Palestinian Authority (PA) curriculum, contain antisemitic content and celebrate violence and martyrdom-jihadist culture. Additionally, there have been reports of UNRWA staff endorsing violence and terrorism, and UNRWA-educated individuals becoming affiliated with Hamas.

UNRWA has a significant position in educating almost 545,000 Palestinian children across the Middle East.

The IMPACT-se report examined educational materials used in UNRWA schools, particularly in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, where the PA curriculum is adopted.

The PA curriculum, which has been under scrutiny since its 2016 revision, is found to contain – like it did before its revision – antisemitic content and the promotion of violence, jihad, and ‘martyrdom’ culture, while omitting teachings of peace and coexistence. UNRWA, while not producing its own curriculum, supplements the host country’s curriculum with additional materials. Despite pledges to counter-act calls for violence by UNRWA, the report found a disturbing failure to do so.

The report also revealed alarming findings regarding UNRWA staff’s public endorsements of violence and terrorism. Notably, it discusses how some UNRWA staff publicly praised and supported deadly assaults on Israeli civilians.

UN Watch also released a report in January 2024 detailing a Telegram group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers with posts celebrating the Hamas massacre on October 7. Within minutes of the attack, members of the group praised the perpetrators as "heroes," lauded the education received by the terrorists, shared images of dead or captured Israelis, and calle

5 Reasons Why the Events in Gaza Are Not “Genocide”
d for the execution of hostages.

Matthias Schmale, a former Gaza-based director of UNRWA, was transferred from his posting in Gaza after comments he made to the Israeli press following the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Hamas, where he appeared to praise Israel's "huge sophistication" in carrying out "precision" strikes. He faced protests from Palestinian employees outside of UNRWA's headquarters in Gaza, and Hamas said that it could no longer guarantee his safety.



What role will UNRWA play in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza after the ceasefire?

Since the historic October 10, 2025, ceasefire agreement, Israel has worked in cooperation with all stakeholders, including with the US, UN, and Arab partners, to ensure that Palestinian civilians in Gaza receive the humanitarian aid they require, including through responsible United Nations entities, in ways that fully respect Israel’s legitimate security concerns.

There is strong international support for these efforts, as reflected in the UN Security Council’s approval on November 17 of a U.S.-led resolution endorsing the 20-point Peace Plan for Gaza.

AJC has stressed that the international community’s focus must be on securing a positive post-war future that addresses humanitarian needs in Gaza, recognizes Israel’s legitimate security objectives, and advances regional stability.

Regrettably, disputes about whether that post-war future should involve UNRWA risk distracting from these important efforts. The risk has been exacerbated by the October 2025 publication by the International Court of Justice in the Hague of an Advisory Opinion, requested by the UN General Assembly in 2024, on the subject of Israel’s international legal obligations concerning humanitarian aid to Gaza. The UN resolution requesting the ICJ’s opinion came in response to the Knesset’s 2024 adoption of two laws banning all contact between UNRWA employees and Israeli officials, impeding the agency’s ability to move aid into Gaza, as well as banning UNRWA from operating within Israel itself, including in Jerusalem where its headquarters were previously based. Israel implemented the ban in January 2025, calling on UNRWA to adequately address its complicity in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

In its non-binding Advisory Opinion, issued on October 23, 2025, the ICJ effectively dismissed Israel’s concerns about UNRWA’s unacceptable track record in Gaza, including the participation of UNRWA staff in the October 7, 2023, terror attack against Israelis, the subsequent holding of hostages, its inability to prevent Hamas from using its facilities and the agency’s longstanding use of educational curricula that delegitimize and promote hatred of Israelis and Jews. Pointing to the UN’s firing of nine UNRWA personnel for their participation in the October 7 terror attack as proof that bias affected only a small number of the organization’s staff and misleadingly asserting that the organization took “quick action” to address allegations of wrongdoing, the ICJ also accepted uncritically the UN’s perfunctory claim that it is “taking action to implement” the recommendations of the Colonna Report as proof that systematic flaws in UNRWA’s operations have been adequately resolved.

For AJC's statement on the ICJ Advisory Opinion, click here.

The UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee subsequently adopted a draft resolution on November 19, 2025, endorsing the ICJ’s opinion that not only is Israel required to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, but it must allow “neutral” providers like UNRWA to supply it. While they have rejected these demands, both the Israeli and U.S. governments have made it clear that they intend to ensure that aid continues to flow into Gaza, including through UN entities, and Israel and the US have set up new coordination mechanisms with the UN and regional partners to facilitate this humanitarian assistance.

7 Ways Hamas Exploits Palestinian Civilians in Gaza
As aid continues to flow, reconstruction efforts begin, and the 20-Point Plan is operationalized, the international community must be unified in its support for the process and its commitment to push back against extremism.

What is AJC saying about UNRWA?

AJC is keenly aware that some two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza depend on aid from UNRWA. Their condition might deteriorate further due to the allegations against UNRWA employees, which led the U.S. and several other major donor countries to suspend their financial aid to the agency. Despite the serious issues with UNRWA that must be investigated, continued delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza is essential, and next steps on UNRWA must be conducted in a manner that does not harm Palestinian civilians in need of humanitarian assistance.