The families of those killed during the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 filed a complaint on Monday against UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, accusing it of having contributed to this unprecedented massacre , according to court documents seen by AFP.
Considered by the international community as indispensable for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians for decades, UNRWA has been in crisis since Israel accused 12 of its employees of being involved in this attack.
An expert report led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna concluded in April that there was a problem with the agency’s political “neutrality” but that Israel had not provided “evidence” to the agency. support for his accusations.
These accusations had prompted several countries to freeze their funding to the agency. Many have since resumed it, with the exception of the United States, Israel’s primary diplomatic and military supporter.
“UNRWA (…) spent more than a decade before the October 7 attack helping Hamas set up (its) terrorist infrastructure,” accuse the victims’ families according to court documents. They believe that the agency “knowingly provided Hamas with the US dollars in cash it needed to pay traffickers in weapons, explosives and other terrorist materials.”
The complaint was filed in New York, the headquarters of the UN and where UNRWA uses banking services, according to the same court documents. Contacted by AFP, UNRWA did not immediately respond.
