The announcements by six Western countries that they will freeze their aid to UNRWA in light of the participation of the agency’s staff in the October 7 massacre has caused an uproar in Palestinian and Arab circles, with sharp criticism from officials, citizens, and media outlets alike, as well as much praise for the nations that announced they’d continue their aid to the agency, such as Ireland and Norway.
The first official reply by Hamas came Saturday, alleging that “the Zionist entity is inciting against UNRWA in order to cut off its funding and deprive our people of their right to its services.” Later that day, the terror group published another, more detailed response that made reference to a statement by Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini.
In its response, Hamas condemned the decision to terminate the contracts of employees based on “Zionist information about the alleged involvement… in the events of October 7th,” as well as what Hamas called the statement’s “description of our people’s resistance as terrorism,” with UNRWA adding that “it is not the agency’s role to announce political positions on the conflict.” The terror group also denounced Israeli “terrorist attacks that amounted to genocide,” adding the claim that 150 UNRWA workers were killed during Israeli raids.
Furthermore, Hamas denounced the agency’s call for the release of what the terror group called “prisoners held by the resistance”—i.e., hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists—as an “interference in what does not concern it,” adding that the agency “did not demand at the same time the immediate release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.”
Finally, the terror group suggested that “UNRWA has been subjected to blackmail by countries that support Israeli terrorism,” adding that the refugee issue is not “a financial issue,” but rather one of “political rights,” deeming that it was the international community who created the Palestinian refugee problem, and adding that thus it must “bear its responsibilities in solving their problem by ensuring their return.”
“A lowly institution which exists to shackle its workers”
In Palestinian social media groups, many were trying to figure out what led these countries to make this decision. In a group of UNRWA workers from Gaza, one user argued that the Western countries “recognized UNRWA as a terror organization” altogether, just because “17 of them participated on October 7th,” while another one asked sincerely: “even if it were true [that some participated in the October 7 events] – why are the rest to blame”?
Some users started to bid farewell to the organization. One said: “The role of UNRWA is nearing its end in a deliberate fashion,” to which another one responded: “Farewell. Livelihood is from Allah, not from the agency.” However, others rejected this notion, adding that “everything is temporary in order to pressure Hamas,” or even hoping that “The end of UNRWA will be met by a founding of a state.”
Many were outraged by what they perceived as the silencing of workers. One user alleged that UNRWA is “a lowly institution which exists to shackle its workers and shut their mouths in exchange for salaries.” They also added that UNRWA “exists in order to serve the occupation first and foremost.”
Some deemed it reasonable to support or take part in the massacre as UNRWA workers. A user wrote: “(UNRWA) presented daily security reports regarding the situation in Gaza without deeming it an intervention in things that don’t concern them – but when a Gazan defends his land, they deem it terror?” Another one argued: “They sent their fleets and destroyers to annihilate us, and now they point their gaze at youth who were zealous for their religion and homeland… what is this farce which we live?”
Ruthless responses to one teacher’s expression of sympathy
Anger was also directed at the agency’s calls to free the Israeli hostages, echoing Hamas’s comments mentioned above. They deemed this message to be hypocritical, as UNRWA made them pledge to keep out of politics, while the call to free the hostages was perceived to be a political one as well. One user wrote, “The lowly institution calls for the release of all the hostages? Why do they interfere in events unrelated to them? Even though they know that tens of thousands of refugees are prisoners of the occupation?” Another one responded: “Yes, and they call on the workers not to enlist in any political framework, so how come they now intervene in politics and demand that?”
One UNRWA teacher disagreed with the general atmosphere, however, and wrote: “Of course, all [agency] workers sign their neutrality and know the law. So why do they involve themselves? If they want to laud and commend [Hamas], let them do it in accounts without their names and workplaces, and this way, nobody would monitor them.”
However, this comment was attacked by others. One user wrote back to her: “…neutrality was made to create slaves like yourself… go teach your students in school your neutrality so that you’d still have your salary, and create a generation committed to neutrality… teach them that the resistance is terror and that a map of Palestine is not allowed because it’s terror and violence. Teach them gender and everything the agency tells you under the guise of neutrality and human rights.”
Finally, the teacher retreated, admitting: “Don’t exaggerate. If that was true, you would find… no members of the resistance [in schools]. We only don’t go public or talk about politics outwards, nothing more than that.”
Activists denounce the decision, decline to mention reason for it
Other Palestinian writers and activists also responded with outrage. Muna Hawwa, a journalist of Palestinian origin who is infamous for a video she made for Al-Jazeera regarding the holocaust, which was deemed antisemitic, argued that “Israel, which killed 100 UNRWA employees and bombed more than 200 UNRWA centers, schools, and shelters, claims that 12 out of 13,000 employees working in Gaza were involved in the October 7 events. Western countries adopted Israeli intelligence allegations without investigation.”
She also added that the decision to “liquidate [UNRWA] is “part of the engineering of punishment,” deeming international aid to be “the most prominent form of neo-colonialism… (since) the moment of rebellion calls for discipline, according to the logic of the colonizer.”
Yassine Izeddeen, a Palestinian blogger and writer on X, argued that such organizations work inherently against the Palestinians. In a post with an antisemitic flavor, he claimed that “international organizations, especially UNRWA, have an important role in fighting our people because they play the role of a jailer who takes his orders from the Zionist occupation. America and the international community have restricted donations… but the funds are controlled by Israel, not the donors.”
Ramy Abdu, a Palestinian who serves as chairman of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and also a close affiliate of Hamas leadership, chose to ignore the reported participation of UNRWA workers in the October 7 massacre itself and rather accused Western nations of standing against the “possibility of the existence of individuals who support the resistance,” adding: “In a world where logic is lost in favor of brutality and injustice, UNRWA is being held accountable and its support has been suspended because 12 of its employees expressed their support for the resistance. UNRWA, which has thousands of refugees working within its ranks, are exposed, along with their own people, to killing, displacement, and extermination.”
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