JERUSALEM – Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) of being controlled by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Danon’s comments follow last week’s Israeli airstrike on the UNRWA al-Jaouni school in a Gaza refugee camp. He questioned how the UN can ignore the fact that Hamas terrorists have taken over UNRWA, saying that those killed in the IDF strike were nine terrorists with blood on their hands, some of whom participated in the October 7 massacre. Danon provided the names of the Hamas terrorists who were at the school compound, claiming they were disguised as “local UNRWA employees.”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) say the school, which was not operational, was being used as a Hamas command and control center.

Danon listed the names of the Hamas terrorists affiliated with UNRWA on his X post, calling UNRWA-Gaza a terrorist organization whose members participated in the October 7 massacre, abducted and murdered innocent Israeli civilians, and demanding the closure of UNRWA.

Just last month, Digital reported that UNRWA  was under scrutiny due to their likely involvement in Hamas’s slaughter of nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in southern Israel.

When approached by Digital, Juliette Touma, a UNRWA spokesperson, said that the Israeli authorities had not officially requested UNRWA to provide them with the list of staff killed in yesterday’s attack on the UNRWA school. She added that the names listed in the Israeli Army’s statement had not been previously flagged to UNRWA by the Israeli authorities.

Touma complained that UNRWA always learns about these serious allegations in the media. After the event. Schools in Gaza have not been in session since shortly after Israel waged war on Hamas in reaction to the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel.

Digital asked the Israel Defense Forces about Touma’s statement. An IDF spokesman responded that it’s clear who belongs to who in Gaza, and this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone at UNRWA. He characterized Touma’s comment as an attempt to shift blame and avoid discussion about the important issue – terrorists working for the organization and using UNRWA as a cover.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, told Digital. “This was a precision strike targeting terrorists who embedded a command and control center within a compound that had previously served as a school. The U.N. should be condemning Hamas for using civilian buildings for military purposes, which is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Instead, they rushed to condemn Israel.”

Neuer, who has testified to Congress about the controversial agency, claimed, “UNRWA is deeply complicit with the Hamas terrorist organization. Their staff routinely celebrate terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews, as we have identified in numerous of our reports, listing some 200 names. Next, we identified heads of , who are senior officials within Hamas. Suhail al-Hindi, who for many years headed the UNRWA teachers union in Gaza, is sitting on the Hamas political bureau with Yahya Sinwar. Likewise, the head of the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon, Fathi al-Sharif, is a senior Hamas terrorist, documented on our website, unwatch.org.”

He called on foreign governments to stop funding UNRWA. “It is high time for all western states who are giving more than a billion dollars to UNRWA to stop funding a terror-infested agency. The Swiss parliament rightly called to stop funding it, and to end UNRWA altogether. We urge all other democracies, the U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Japan, to do the same.”

UNRWA’s Touma decried the Swiss decision. “Switzerland’s lower parliament votes to suspend funding to UNRWA. It is beyond comprehension that this happens in circumstances where the Agency is at the forefront of lifesaving humanitarian work in Gaza. Switzerland has been known for championing humanitarian aid and playing a leading role in promoting international humanitarian law.”

Touma added, “Parliamentarians voting to phase out a U.N. General Assembly mandated Agency without offering a political alternative to Palestinians under occupation are again on the wrong side of history.” 

The U.S. suspended funding to UNRWA because of the role some of its employees played in the Oct. 7 massacre. had initially restarted aid to the controversy-hit agency upon assuming office after former President Donald Trump’s decision to defund the controversial organization in 2018.