Shocking: UN rejects claims of Hamas using UNRWA facilities for hostages

In a stunning revelation after her release in January 2025, Damari, a British-Israeli captive, told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that she endured captivity in a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza. She recounted being denied proper medical care, despite severe injuries—including the loss of two fingers and an untreated gunshot wound—suffered during her abduction by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Yet, Tom Fletcher, the UN’s senior humanitarian aid official, has cast doubt on these claims. Speaking to Fox News on March 13, 2025, Fletcher insisted, “I have not seen a shred of evidence so far, despite asking for it, that points to any UN acquiescence or involvement in holding hostages in our buildings or by our staff.” He conceded that Hamas might have occupied a UN site but only after it was “bombed out by the Israelis,” implying no UN oversight at the time. This dismissal raises eyebrows, especially given the UN’s own internal findings. A review by the UN Office of Oversight Services previously validated Israel’s evidence that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 massacre, which killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Israel’s accusations don’t stop there. Of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gaza staff, at least 12% are linked to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, per Israeli estimates. Further, in February 2025, IDF troops uncovered a Hamas command center beneath UNRWA’s Gaza City headquarters, complete with servers tapping into the agency’s power grid. Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon has lambasted the UN’s response, declaring to Fox News, “We stand by the hostages’ accounts of their torment under Hamas. The UN should probe its own role in enabling this terrorism, not waste time vilifying Israel.” As evidence piles up, the UN’s denials ring increasingly hollow, fueling calls for accountability over its ties to Hamas.