UNRWA says Israel forced some of its agents to make confessions about alleged links to Hamas

(Reuters – The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says some of its employees, released after being detained by Israel, reported being pressured by Israeli authorities to provide false testimony on the agency’s alleged links to Hamas and the October 7 attacks in Israel.

The statements come from a February UNRWA report seen by Reuters, in which allegations of ill-treatment of unidentified Palestinians, including several UNRWA agents, during their detention in Israel are detailed.

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma said the agency plans to hand over the 11-page report, which has not been published, to UN and non-UN agencies responsible for documenting possible human rights violations. human rights.

“When the war is over, several investigations will have to be opened to investigate human rights violations,” she said.

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The report indicates that several Palestinian members of UNRWA were detained by the Israeli army and that they had notably been victims of beatings, simulated drownings (“waterboarding”), and that threats had been made towards their members. families.

“Members of the agency were subjected to threats and coercion by Israeli authorities during their detention; they were pressured to provide false testimony against the agency, including regarding existing links between the agency and Hamas and the involvement of some of its agents in the atrocities of October 7, 2023,” the report said.

UNRWA refused a request from Reuters to see transcripts of interviews in which allegations of forced confessions were recounted.

Palestinian detainees commonly described abuse, beatings, humiliation, threats, the use of dogs to attack them, sexual violence as well as the deaths of detainees who were denied medical treatment, the report said.

IN THE TOURNAMENT

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the information detailed in the UNRWA report, although it corroborates testimonies from Palestinians freed by the Israeli military reported by Reuters and other media outlets in recent months .

The UN agency has been in turmoil since the revelation in January, based on Israeli information, of the alleged involvement of 12 of its agents in the deadly Hamas attacks against the Jewish state.

The accusations made by Israel pushed 16 countries, including the United States, to suspend their funds to UNRWA, plunging the United Nations agency into crisis.

The European Union (EU) announced a staggered payment of aid of 82 million euros allocated in 2024 to UNRWA, subjecting two other payments to the UN agency on condition.

Asked by Reuters about the accusations contained in the UNRWA report, an Israeli army spokesperson said, without specifically responding to the allegations made by UNRWA, that Israeli soldiers were acting in accordance with international law. to protect the rights of detainees.

The released detainees are likely to be controlled by Hamas and forced to accuse Israel, he added.

“In some cases, obvious marks were visible on people’s bodies. There is also the psychological impact. This has also been documented,” replied Juliette Touma, indicating that the report was based on “first-hand testimonies hand”.

UNRWA, founded in 1949 following the first Israeli-Palestinian war, assists Palestinian refugees with health, education and humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Syria and in Liban.

Its main donors, according to the 2022 list, are the United States, Germany and the European Union, which announced an audit of its financial contributions to the organization.

Its role is decisive in assisting the populations of the Gaza Strip, under fire from the Israeli army since October 7. The agency employs 13,000 people in Gaza.

(Reporting by Tom Perry, Angus MacDowall and James Mackenzie; French version Zhifan Liu, editing by Camille Raynaud)