UNRWA hits out at ‘disinformation campaign’ in letter to MPs following ‘disturbing’ Emily Damari allegations

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has claimed to be the victim of a “misinformation campaign” days after former British hostage Emily Damari told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that she was held in an UNRWA facility.

A letter to MPs seen by the JC said: “The disinformation/misinformation campaign against UNRWA continues, harming the Agency's work. UNRWA's Commissioner-General underscores in his tweet that fact-checking is key in countering this phenomenon.
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The tweet in question says that nine staff employed by the UN agency were suspended following claims that they participated in atrocities against Israelis on October 7.

The letter did not dispute Damari’s claim that she was held by Hamas terrorists an UNRWA facility, but links to a statement by the organisation’s Commissioner-General Phillipe Lazzarini which states that that “UNRWA has not been involved in any negotiations related to hostage releases, as it is not within its mandate."

The statement goes on to say Damari’s allegations are “deeply disturbing and shocking” and that the group takes “any such allegations extremely seriously”.

However, Lazzarini then claims that “UNRWA was forced to vacate all its installations in the north of Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, on 13 October 2023 and has, since then, had no control over them. The same happened whenever a military evacuation order was given during the last 15 months in other locations of the Gaza Strip.”

Some Labour MPs have expressed concern regarding UNRWA following Emily Damari’s conversation with the Prime Minister.

Damien Egan, MP for Bristol North East and vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel, told the JC he was disappointed that the organisation wasn’t “confronting the many examples of how their operations in Gaza are being abused by Hamas”.

He added: “As long as British taxpayers’ money is being sent to UNRWA, we need to know that that UK funding isn’t being used to keep hostages – including in this case a British national – imprisoned.”

Another Labour MP told the JC that they had expressed reservations about UNRWA directly to Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

At Labour’s annual conference in September last year, Lammy proudly stated that one of his first decisions in government was to restore funding to UNRWA.

The previous Conservative government had stopped funding the group after Israel accused UNRWA employees of participating in the October 7 attacks and subsequent violence.

Over 100 victims of October 7 also filed a lawsuit in New York against the agency in June last year, alleging that it “helped Hamas build up the terror infrastructure and personal that were necessary to carry out the October 7 attack”.

The JC has previously reported that the IDF found Hamas weaponry – including rockets and drones – in the organisation’s Gaza City HQ.

In December, Sir Keir Starmer was accused of giving money “to Hamas” by former No10 adviser Dominic Cummings after he announced an additional £13m in funding to UNRWA.

The Prime Minister has also expressed concern about Israeli legislation aimed at curtailing the group’s operations.

The government’s stance puts them on an apparent collision course with US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday signed an executive order to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council and UNRWA.

The UNRWA order extends a ban on US funding that Congress imposed in March after Israel alleged that some 30 employees of the aid organisation participated directly in the October 7 attacks and that nearly 1,500 staff in Gaza are members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Trump said on Tuesday that he hopes that the order can spur reform throughout the UN system. “I’ve always felt that the UN has tremendous potential,” he added. “But it’s not being well run, to be honest.

Figures across the Israeli political spectrum have lambasted UNRWA, with former Israeli Labour Party leader Merav Michaeli telling the JC in an interview in November that “a lot of people who work in UNRWA are Hamas's people”.