The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is probing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency based on “credible reports that UNRWA staff members participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks Hamas carried out against Israel,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chair of the House panel, stated on Monday.
Comer wrote to António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, requesting documents and communications from an investigation, which the global body’s internal oversight services office conducted into UNRWA staffers “accused of assisting with or directly participating in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack,” the congressman said.
“This request follows UNRWA’s repeated failure to adequately respond to the U.S. government’s oversight requests,” he added. “Despite repeated U.S. oversight inquiries, UNRWA, either on its own or at the direction of U.N. headquarters, has refused to provide necessary documentation related to its staff’s involvement in this atrocity.”
Comer noted that the United Nations redacted “valuable information” from documents about the “termination of several UNRWA employees implicated in the Oct. 7 attack.” That decision obscured “involvement of current and former UNRWA staff in the attacks,” he stated. “This is unacceptable, as the lack of transparency greatly undermines U.S. efforts to assess risk and obstructs the oversight responsibilities of Congress.”
The Biden administration suspended funding to UNRWA, and Congress passed its own funding freeze. U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order terminating UNRWA funding due to concerns over its ties with Hamas.
Comer wrote to Guterres that there are “serious questions” about whether the global body “deserves to receive any continued funding from U.S. taxpayers.” (He noted that Washington is the largest funder of the United Nations.)
“Without full accountability, we cannot confirm that implicated individuals—regardless of whether UNRWA or the U.N. generally believes they are culpable—have been removed from their positions or that vetting mechanisms are in place to prevent future threats,” Comer wrote.
“The risk remains that current or former UNRWA employees tied to terrorism could resurface within other U.N. entities or NGOs funded by U.S. tax dollars,” he added.
