The British newspaper The Daily Beast said, Tuesday, February 6, 2024, that the Israeli intelligence file that claims that a number of UNRWA employees in Gaza participated in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation does not include sufficient evidence to support the validity of these allegations.

According to a copy of the file obtained by the British newspaper, the file on UNRWA employees in Gaza consists of 6 pages, and is a summary of a larger report, which names 12 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and describes their alleged ties to Hamas.

The file accuses 9 UNRWA employees in Gaza of crossing the border on October 7, to participate in raids on Israeli settlements, including a man, who works as a counselor in UNRWA schools, who is accused of kidnapping a woman.

The Israeli report accuses dozens of UNRWA employees in Gaza of working for Hamas

The file cites “intelligence information, documents and identity cards seized during the fighting,” alleging that about 190 UNRWA employees work for Hamas or its Palestinian Islamic Jihad affiliate.

The file did not go into further details about the exact nature of the alleged information, documents, or identity cards.

Leaked versions of the dossier began circulating last week, with a few of the first media outlets to publish its contents admitting their lack of intelligence, but there were some exceptions, such as CBS News, which noted that the allegations were made “unsubstantiated.” However, even before the leaks, the accusations threatened the agency's future.

In the days since the United Nations revealed Israeli accusations about UNRWA staff in Gaza, at least 18 donor countries, including the United States, chose to suspend vital aid to the agency, which employs about 13,000 people in Gaza to run schools, operate health care centres, supervising the distribution of food and medical aid. The New York Times reported on Monday, February 5, that UNRWA is expected to lose $65 million by the end of the month, a loss that could lead to disastrous results.

The Director-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement on Saturday, February 3, that “our humanitarian operation, on which two million people in Gaza depend and which represents a lifeline for them, is collapsing.”

The United States and other countries that suspended aid have also indicated that they will not reverse the decision to suspend aid until the investigation is completed. While UN sources told France 24 that the investigation, especially in the middle of an active war zone, could take up to a year.

Lazzarini asked The Financial Times, which also expressed doubts about the strength of the file’s claims in an article published on Monday, January 5: “What happens if the agency disappears, even after the current crisis ends? Even if UNRWA disappears, the refugee status remains. Politically, these people still maintain their refugee status. This will not disappear because UNRWA will no longer exist.”

Israel did not share its report on UNRWA staff in Gaza with the organization

According to France 24, Israel did not share the larger intelligence report with UNRWA nor the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, the team that will conduct the investigation.

Lazzarini told The Financial Times that donor countries' announcement of cutting off aid is a "reckless and irrational" step, expressing his belief, according to several conversations with foreign ministers, that some are "looking for ways to re-evaluate the situation and return aid."

On the other hand, in the face of the depletion of aid worth about $440 million, some countries have doubled their commitments to Gaza. The Norwegian government has refused to stop donations, and Foreign Minister Espen Barth Ede told NPR last week that it would amount to collective punishment.

“Cutting funds now comes at the wrong moment, because we are talking about millions of people who are in dire humanitarian distress,” Barth Eddy added.