Israeli lawsuit says UN agency helps Hamas by paying Gaza employees in dollars

NEW YORK — Israelis who were taken hostage or lost loved ones during the October 7 Hamas attack are suing the United Nations agency that helps Palestiniansclaiming it helped finance the militants by paying agency staff in US dollars and thus funneling them to money changers in Gaza, who allegedly give a cut to Hamas.

But the agency, known as UNWRA, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the employees were paid in dollars at their own discretion. Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank do not have their own national currency and mainly use Israeli shekels.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. federal court in New York, marks the latest challenge to the beleaguered U.N. agency, which has been the main provider of food, water and shelter to civilians during the Israel-Hamas war. The Israeli government has long targeted the more than 70-year-old agency and scrutiny has intensified during the eight-month war, prompting UNRWA to defend itself as it struggles with a spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“UNRWA’s personnel, facilities and ability to transport US dollars to Gaza formed a powerful pillar of Hamas’ plan to carry out the October 7 attack,” the suit says, asserting that the UN agency “systematically aided and abetted and deliberately Hamas and its targets.”

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that he learned of the case only through the media.

“I don’t know what the status of this process is, but for now I see this as an additional way of putting pressure on the agency,” he said at a press conference in Geneva.

UNRWA has denied that it knowingly helps Hamas or any other militant group.

Israel invaded Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. does not say how many. were civilians or combatants.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of dozens of Israelis, including survivors of the October 7 attack, victims’ relatives and rescued captives. It echoes some complaints raised by his government, which range from allegations that UNRWA employs Hamas agents to complaints about the content of textbooks in UNRWA-run schools.

But the lawsuit also centers on the agency’s practice of paying its 13,000 Gaza employees in U.S. dollars. The money is transferred from a bank in New York and transported to Gaza, according to the legal complaint, which states that payroll totaled at least $20 million per month from 2018 until last September.

UNRWA employees use local money changers to convert their dollars into Israeli shekels, the complaint says.

Some Palestinians also use dollars or Jordanian dinars, considering them stable and reliable currencies.

The suit alleges that Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, “manages the majority” of the money changers and charges a 10% to 25% fee on the rest, “ensuring that a predictable percentage of UNRWA’s payroll went to Hamas.” in dollars. useful for black market arms deals.

“Hamas’ ability to carry out the October 7 attack would have been significantly and possibly fatally weakened without the money provided by UNRWA,” the complaint says.

The complaint points to a 2018 report commissioned by UNRWA on the delivery of cash aid that noted risks of misappropriation, fraud or other deviation from the intended purpose.

UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma said in a message to the AP that Gaza officials asked that “they be paid in dollars because Gaza does not have an official national currency.”

Touma said the UN, including UNRWA, and its officials are immune from legal action. She declined to comment further on the lawsuit in question, saying the agency had not been officially notified.

One of the plaintiffs’ lead lawyers, Gavi Mairone, said in a statement on Tuesday that he did not believe the UN and the authorities named in the lawsuit had immunity, “and certainly not in relation to these allegations.”

Formally called the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA was created to help around 700,000 Palestinians. who fled or were expelled from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of the country. His descendants now number nearly 6 million.

The agency runs schools, health clinics, infrastructure projects and aid programs in refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, more than 1.7 million people have taken shelter in UNRWA facilities. At least 500 displaced people were killed when such facilities were attacked, according to UNWRA statistics released Friday. The agency lost nearly 200 employees.

Two UN officials said on Tuesday that the world body warned Israel that aid operations in Gaza would be suspended unless protections for humanitarian workers to improve.

Israel accused UNRWA of letting Hamas exploit its aid and facilities, and Israel claimed this winter that a dozen UNRWA personnel participated in the 7 October attacks.

The allegations prompted the US and more than a dozen other countries to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to the agency, although all except the US and Britain have resumed their funding. Lazzarini said Tuesday that new donors have also come on board, but the agency still faces a year-end deficit of up to $140 million.

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El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed.