Victims of terrorist attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as families of those killed, have filed a landmark lawsuit against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), alleging the agency played a direct role in supporting terrorism and enabling the groups responsible for the October 7 massacre and other attacks. The plaintiffs are seeking both compensatory and punitive damages from UNRWA.

Lawyers representing UNRWA argue the organization is shielded from such lawsuits under diplomatic immunity. However, attorneys from President Trump’s Justice Department reversed the government’s stance supporting that claim in April, effectively greenlighting the current legal challenge.

This is not the first time UNRWA has faced legal pressure over alleged terror ties. A similar case has been working its way through federal court in Manhattan since 2023.

Central to the new lawsuit is the claim that UNRWA has, for years, harbored members of terrorist organizations within its ranks and turned a blind eye to their activities. The most explosive allegation stems from video footage captured on October 7, 2023 — the day of Hamas’s brutal assault on southern Israel — showing UNRWA social worker Faisal Ali Mussalem al Naami and another agency employee loading the body of murdered Israeli civilian Yonatan Samerano into a truck. The footage has been cited as direct evidence of the agency’s complicity.

In January, Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a partial list of 108 UNRWA employees it identified as active members of Hamas. Officials stressed that this was only a “small fraction” of a much longer classified list, which reportedly includes hundreds of staffers tied to both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“The connection between UNRWA and terror is systemic and deep-rooted,” a senior Israeli official said at the time. Due to ongoing security operations, the full list has not been made public.

In response to the mounting allegations, the Israeli Knesset passed legislation last October banning UNRWA from operating within Israeli territory and prohibiting all official cooperation with the agency.

UNRWA, meanwhile, has denied institutional wrongdoing, acknowledging that it has fired or suspended several employees accused of terror involvement but insisting that these were isolated cases. The agency maintains that it operates under strict neutrality and is committed to serving Palestinian refugees across the region.

The lawsuit comes amid broader calls in Washington and Europe to defund UNRWA or dismantle it altogether. While some governments have frozen funding temporarily, others have since resumed financial support, sparking criticism from pro-Israel lawmakers and advocacy groups.

If the case proceeds, it could force unprecedented legal and diplomatic challenges for the United Nations and open the door for further lawsuits by terror victims around the globe.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)