European lawmakers joined the call to shut down the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after it was revealed that the Israeli-British hostage freed by Hamas had been held in the humanitarian group’s facilities.
Nearly three dozen officials from 14 EU nations signed a letter accusing the embattled UNRWA of being compromised by Hamas terrorists after Emily Damari, 28, said she had been kept in UN facilities during her 15-months of captivity in Gaza.
Damari did not say whether she ever saw UNRWA staffers in the buildings she was held at. She told UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that the terrorists treated her for gunshot wounds at one of the facilities with an expired bottle of iodine.
“UNRWA has contravened all its missions and has helped a terrorist organization to hide hostages, which is politically, morally and legally highly reprehensible,” the lawmakers wrote.
Emily Damari, pictured hugging her mother, said she was held at UNRWA facilities during her 15-months in captivity under Hamas. Israeli Army/AFP via Getty Images
The UNRWA shut down its facilities in northern Gaza, which were transformed into shelters by refugees and Hamas terrorists. AFP via Getty ImagesThe officials said the EU, which is the UNRWA’s third-largest donor, should instead tap the UN ‘s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agency to oversee the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The UNRWA has been repeatedly accused of allowing Hamas to infiltrate their network, with nine staffers fired last year after an investigation found that they might have helped members of the terrorist group conduct the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel.
Israel has also accused the UNRWA of housing Hamas cells throughout Gaza after finding terrorists operating in abandoned UN facilities. However, there is no direct evidence that the agency actively worked with Hamas.
Israel issued a ban on the UNRWA, which went into effect last week despite outcry from humanitarian groups that no agency at the moment can fill in to address the needs of the more than 1 million refugees in the Gaza Strip.
Israel banned the UNRWA’s operation in Gaza and the West Bank last week after months of accusing the humanitarian group of being infiltrated by Hamas. APDanny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, however, supported the ban and praised the EU officials for joining the Jewish state’s call to shut down the UNRWA.
“I support the members of parliament for their demand from the UN Secretary-General and their support for what we have long proven — Hamas has taken over UNRWA,” Dannon wrote on X.
“Supporting UNRWA is supporting Hamas,” he added. “The secretary-general’s and UNRWA Commissioner-General [Philippe] Lazzarini’s turning of a blind eye is not the solution.”
The UNRWA remains the most prominent group delivering aid to the more than one million refugees in the Gaza Strip. REUTERSLazzarini, who has denounced the allegations that Hamas is deeply embedded in the UNRWA, said he was shocked after learning about Damari’s time in captivity and called for an “independent investigation” into the matter.
“Claims that hostages have been held in UNRWA premises are deeply disturbing and shocking. We take any such allegations extremely seriously,” he wrote on X.
Lazzarini, who is Swiss, also noted that the UNRWA had evacuated from all its buildings in northern Gaza, including Gaza City, since Oct. 13, 2023, and has had no control over what happens to them.
