UNRWA confirms there is no staff member at Sinwar, following Israeli claims

The head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has refuted claims that a member of his staff was killed along with former Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in Gaza on Thursday.

Philippe Lazzarini dismissed the claims in a post on X on Thursday, stating that “once again unverified information is being used to discredit UNRWA and its staff.”

Israel has launched a concerted campaign to discredit UNRWA – which provides lifesaving aid to millions of Palestinian refugees – since the start of the war on Gaza last October, with false claims that a member of the organization was killed in a firefight with the deceased Hamas leader. .

“I confirm that the staff member in question is alive… he is currently living in Egypt where he traveled with his family through the Rafah border in April,” Lazzarini said.

“Time to end the disinformation campaigns.”

The claims come after the Israeli military released a photo of UNRWA teacher Hani Zourob’s expired passport, with Israeli media claiming the man is a bodyguard for Sinwar and was killed with him in Rafah on Thursday.

The false claims prompted some social media accounts to call for an end to funding for UNRWA, following numerous Israeli claims that staffers are members of Hamas.

This includes allegations from January that 19 staffers were involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people.

A UN investigation found that nine personnel may have been involved, but there was insufficient evidence to prove the involvement of the remaining personnel.

The Israeli Knesset has since introduced a bill to ban UNRWA from operating in Israel and end contact between the organization and the government.

Both the EU and the US have warned against such a move, warning that it could collapse aid distribution in Gaza, although Washington and some European states blocked aid to the agency after the October 7 claims.

The bill was highlighted in an official letter from the Biden administration to Netanyahu’s government, which called for increasing aid to the enclave.

The letter, signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, said the “implementation of such a restriction would devastate the humanitarian response in Gaza.”

The Israeli government has also confiscated land where UNRWA headquarters are located in occupied East Jerusalem, with plans to build 1,440 new settlements on the land.

According to an organization report released on October 13, approximately 228 UNRWA members have been killed by Israel in Gaza.

At least 42,500 Palestinians have been killed and another 99,546 injured by Israel in its war against Gaza.