The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency was sued on Monday by dozens of Israelis accusing it of aiding and abetting a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
In the complaint filed in the US District Court in Manhattan, the plaintiffs said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) helped Hamas for more than a decade build the “terrorist infrastructure” and personnel needed to carry out attacks.
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages because they allege UNRWA “aided and abetted Hamas’s genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture,” which they say violates international law and the federal Torture Victims Protection Act.
UNRWA declined to comment, saying they had not yet been served with a lawsuit.
The agency has said it takes allegations of staff misconduct seriously, and has dismissed 10 employees accused by Israel of involvement in the attack. It has said two others were killed.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini and several current and former agency officials are also defendants.
The plaintiffs include 101 people who survived the attack or whose relatives were killed.
While most of their allegations are filed by the Israeli government, the plaintiffs want UNRWA to be held liable for allegedly funneling more than $1 billion from a Manhattan bank account to benefit Hamas, including weapons, explosives and ammunition.
The plaintiffs accuse UNRWA of providing “safe haven” to Hamas in its facilities, and of indoctrinating Palestinian children into supporting violence and hatred toward Jews and Israel by using Hamas-approved textbooks in its schools.
He also said the attack was foreseeable to the defendants, whether or not they knew its specifics.
“We’re talking about people who have been killed, who have lost their family members and homes,” plaintiffs’ attorney Avery Samet said in an interview. “We expect the damage will be substantial.”
UNRWA chief’s warning
According to Israeli figures, 1,200 people were killed in the attack by Hamas militants on October 7, while around 250 others were kidnapped.
More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip, health officials in the Hamas-ruled region said.
Several countries, including the United States, had halted funding to UNRWA after Israel alleged its staff were involved in Hamas attacks.
In April, Norway called on international donors to resume funding to UNRWA after a UN-commissioned independent review found Israel had provided no evidence to support its allegation that hundreds of UNRWA staff were members of terrorist groups.
On Monday, Lazzarini urged resistance to Israeli efforts to disband UNRWA.
“If we do not step back, other UN entities and international organisations will take the next step, further weakening our multilateral system,” Lazzarini said at a meeting of the agency’s advisory commission in Geneva.
Established in 1949 after the First Arab-Israeli War, UNRWA provides schooling, healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It is funded almost entirely by UN member states.
The case is Estate of Kedem et al v. United Nations Relief and Works Agency et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-04765.
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