UN aid agency UNRWA has been “exposed” over links with Hamas to the point where the organisation is not a “few bad apples” but a “whole rotten orchard”, an Israeli government spokesman has claimed.
The aid agency, which is responsible for more than five million Palestinian refugees, has come under repeated attack by Benjamin Netanyahu, who says it has links to Hamas and other militant groups.
As we’ve reported, new laws passed in Israel yesterday banned the agency from operating in the country.
Speaking to Sky presenter Jayne Secker, spokesman David Mencer said members of UNRWA took part in the massacre on 7 October last year, when around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken back to Gaza as hostages by Hamas, according to Israeli tallies.
“UNRWA employees have become exposed as the terrorists themselves, not on a small scale, not a few bad apples, but a whole rotten orchard, actually,” he said.
“And also because UNRWA buildings have been used as a cover for rocket launching sites.”
He also claimed all the militants involved in the 7 October attacks were “graduates of the UNRWA education system”.
Pressed by Secker that this is because there are no other organisations providing schools in Gaza or the West Bank, he said UNRWA is a “huge problem”.
Ban is ‘totally wrong’
Secker also put to him the US, UK, Canada, Japan and several other European countries have all expressed concern at the move – with British foreign secretary David Lammy describing the measures as “totally wrong”.
But Mr Mencer claimed Hamas has “completely infiltrated” UNRWA and Gazans deserve better – insisting Israel will do all it can to get aid to “ordinary Gazans”.
“They deserve an organisation which does not seek their death, because Hamas are not upset that civilians are being killed,” he said.
“They only wish that ten times more have been killed. And we want more of this aid to go to the ordinary Gazans for a better future for them, and not to the Hamas terrorist organisation.”
More than 1.9 million Palestinians are displaced from their homes and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.
Four Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza, says IDF
Four Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in northern Gaza today, Israel’s military has said.
The troops, all aged between 20-22, were from the same unit in the Israel Defence Forces.
Another solider was seriously wounded during fighting, the military added.
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