UNRWA report: Israel forced some agency employees to falsely admit to having a connection with Hamas

Gaza: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that some of the agency’s employees who were released from Israeli occupation prisons in Gaza reported that they were subjected to pressure from the Israeli authorities to falsely state that the agency had links to Hamas and that employees participated in the October 7 attacks. the first.

These accusations were contained in an UNRWA report dated February 2024, which includes accounts from Palestinians, including UNRWA employees, about their exposure to ill-treatment in occupation prisons.

UNRWA Communications Director Juliette Touma said that the agency intends to hand over the information contained in the unpublished 11-page report to agencies inside and outside the United Nations specialized in documenting potential human rights violations.

“When the war ends, there must be a series of investigations to look into all human rights violations,” she added.

The report stated that the Israeli occupation army arrested many Palestinian UNRWA employees and that the mistreatment and violations to which they said they were subjected included severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats to harm family members.

The report also stated, “The agency’s employees were subjected to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities during their detention, and were pressured to make false statements against the agency, including that the agency had links to the Hamas movement and that UNRWA employees participated in the atrocities that occurred on October 7, 2023.”