A Palestinian terrorist shot and killed by Israeli troops last week northeast of Nablus in Samaria was a United Nations employee, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday.
“During an IDF counterterrorism operation in the Far’a area, a terrorist was identified hurling explosive devices that posed a threat to the forces operating in the area,” IDF International Spokesperson Nadav Shoshani tweeted.
Shoshani confirmed that the terrorist, later identified as U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) “sanitation laborer” Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, was killed by IDF troops.
Shoshani criticized an UNRWA post on X that mentioned the incident without “telling the full story.”
He went on to write that “after receiving his details, it was found that the terrorist was known to Israeli security forces and he had been complicit in additional terrorist activities.
“This is yet another example of an UNRWA employee taking active part in terrorist activities against Israel, as has been proven in several other cases in the past, including employees who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre.”
Earlier, the U.N. agency released an official statement “mourning” the death of Jawwad, without addressing his alleged terrorist activities.
“Sufyan worked as a sanitation laborer in El Far’a Camp and is survived by his wife and five children,” the statement read.
“This marks the first time an UNRWA staff member has been killed in the West Bank in more than ten years. It comes as the West Bank is experiencing unprecedented levels of violence, placing communities at risk,” the statement added, lamenting the consequences felt by Palestinian civilians.
Since Oct. 7, the IDF has been highly critical of the U.N. agency, demonstrating time and again links between the organization and Palestinian terrorism.
On Sep. 11, the Israeli Air Force killed nine terrorists in a school-turned-Hamas command base, including some whom UNRWA had claimed were providing assistance to displaced Palestinians.
The IDF said in a statement it had struck “terrorists who were operating a command-and-control center in an area previously used by the Al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip.
“Ahead of the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the possibility of harm to civilians,” the IDF continued, accusing Hamas of violating international humanitarian law by hiding in civilian infrastructures.
Subsequently, Shoshani published a list of the nine killed with their full names, detailing their positions within Hamas, including those of the three UNRWA employees.
