Yoav Gallant, the former IDF general, (pictured) told a group of reporters at a briefing on Friday that roughly 12% of UNRWA were members of at least one of the terror groups
Yoav Gallant, the former IDF general, told a group of reporters at a briefing on Friday that roughly 12% of UNRWA were members of at least one of the terror groups.
'Out of 13,000 UNRWA workers, 12 per cent are affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)', he said.
'One thousand four hundred and sixty eight workers are known to be active in Hamas and PIJ. One hundred and eighty five UNRWA workers are active in the military branches of Hamas and 51 are active in the PIJ military branch,' he added.
Gallant, 65, did not publish the evidence that the claims were based on, and MailOnline was unable to independently verify Israel's figures.
The defence minister also revealed the identities of the 12 UNRWA staff who he says 'actively participated' in the October 7 incursion, which saw Hamas kill 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians.
Israel's claims that nine of the 12 UNRWA staff worked in schools as teachers or counsellors, while the others worked as clerks and social workers.
But the country provided little evidence to back the claims up, posting pictures of just two of the 12 men that linked them to Black Saturday.
Faisal Ali Mussalem Al-Naami, who Israel says is a social worker with UNRWA and was 'operative in the comms and combat support in the Nusirat', was allegedly seen at Kibbutz Be'eri, and was 'involved in kidnapping a soldier', as well as coordinating 'the transfer of weapons and trucks.'
The IDF posted a photo of Al-Naami next to a CCTV image of a similar-looking man standing next to a man holding a weapon.
Israel said at the end of January that it had evidence of UNRWA staff being involved in the massacre, which led to many of the agency's largest donors, including the US, the UK and 14 other countries, pulling funding.
Comment: Israel will do anything to block aid from getting to Palestine:
- Israeli tanks open fire on hundreds of Gazans waiting for aid; Egypt's President exposes IDF blocking critical deliveries
- Israel blocks food aid destined for Gaza at the Port of Ashdod
UNRWA's chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said almost immediately after the scandal broke that none of the employees who were alleged to have taken part in the incursion worked at the agency any more.
Lazzarini later admitted that he followed a 'reverse due process', dismissing employees without evidence of their alleged crimes.
He said: 'I felt at the time that not only the reputation but the ability of the entire agency to continue to operate and deliver critical humanitarian assistance was at stake if I did not take such a decision.
'My judgement, based on this going public, true or untrue, was I need to take the swiftest and boldest decision to show that as an agency we take this allegation seriously.'
The war erupted after Hamas burst through Israel's defences and attacked communities across southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage.
Militants still hold around 130 hostages, a fourth of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the others were released during a week-long ceasefire in November.
The war has killed at least 28,858 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records.
Comment: Israel clearly doesn't distinguish between Palestinian civilians and combatants either.
Around 80% of Gaza's population have been driven from their homes and a quarter face starvation.
Reader Comments
I think we can do it, Israel is not a very large nation.
If we pipe in soothing music and paint the insides with a soothing blue green....
Schizophrenia can be treated, you just have to limit stimulation from the outside world.
The world is full of anti-semites who hate Jews. So the Choosen People will at one time remove all those anti-semitic goyims, like the Palestinians today.
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Note that any non-negative comment re any organisation that the UK has labelled a proscribed terrorist group is classed as "Glorifying" terrorism The genocide must go on unimpeded
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I t shows two of the accused with a photocopy of a hang-glider crudely stuck with tape to the backs of their jackets. How do we know that it wasn't state actors that stuck those images onto random people?
Either one is a Zionist or, by definition, must be Hamas and therefore need to be exterminated
my hope is Russia, China, Iran India Pakistan Syria Iraq Saudi Libya, Tunisia Yemen and Kuwait all preempt Israel, and commit a UN peace force. Installing a two state solution, that might very soon become a one state solution. Then those khazars and Ashkenazi cults can go back to where they came, Hungary Russia Ukraine, not an Arab dna nucleus amongst the lot of them.but what else would you expect from rabid liars and vermin that murders women and children. Well they should remember the huge bulk order the American tax payer paid for man sized diapers, at the mention of Hezbollah 2000 young boys took on the might of the IDF tank aircraft bombs ships missiles, and they created another great flood…. And let’s say, it wasn’t the parting of the seas! Hence the need for man size diapers!
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