On Wednesday, a UNWatch report revealed that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff have been stealing humanitarian aid materials meant for Gazan civilians, and reselling the materials at a profit.
UNRWA staff are stealing aid and selling it for profit, while those who report it face reprisals, according to numerous reports published by Palestinians in an UNRWA-related chatroom.
The posts expose a deep frustration by employees that senior UNRWA employees are engaged in the abuses, and that the agency is doing nothing about it. This comes amid a recent call by UNRWA Commissioner-General Phillipe Lazzarini for countries to increase direct cash assistance to Gazans because, although “there is more food available… it still does not mean that the food is accessible.”
The chatroom is run by a former UNRWA employee, Haitham al-Sayyed, who was removed from UNRWA in 2016 after he publicly called out the agency for hiding an UNRWA school map that denied the existence of Israel, covered up with a white cloth to hide it from the cameras while UN chief Ban Ki-moon was holding a press conference in June 2016.
BREAKING: UNRWA staff stealing and selling humanitarian aid, Gazans report
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) May 8, 2024
• UNRWA warehouse chief sold 50 cartons of food for $5,000
• Pampers, canned sweets, tissues stolen and sold at UNRWA school door
• UNRWA staff “have their homes full of aid”https://t.co/7cXGzrSUGj
The accounts are all eyewitness reports; there do not appear to be any photographs or video of the thefts, of the stolen materials, or the sales. But there have been several eyewitness accounts, such as this one from an UNRWA employee:
On January 6th, Haitham posted the following message, as sent to him by an UNRWA employee which outlines these allegations in detail (names have been redacted by Haitham):
“I am an agency employee working in the emergency at a shelter school… In fact, out of honesty and speaking the word of truth, I agreed with my colleagues to tell the truth, I am completely dissatisfied with the school administration and its honesty in distributing aid due to the thefts, perhaps this was the fault of the official who had the responsibility of choosing a good man to manage the center, unfortunately, the center is managed by a teacher… the displaced people in the external shelter do not get their right to food and non-food aid, but rather it is distributed at night and sold in front of our eyes, for example with baby pampers, which we were surprised the next day that 150 bags were distributed at night and some of the displaced people did not get their right to it, and everyone who speaks is transferred, including Mr. A. Raed Al … And A. Awad…
If true, this is a textbook example of corruption by people who are supposed to be distributing humanitarian aid.
See Related: United Nations Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) Is Going Broke. Let It.
The UNRWA has had corruption accusations levied before this. In April, UN investigators were looking into allegations that 14 UNRWA staffers were actively involved in the Hamas October 7th attacks on Israel. Several UN member nations have suspended funding to UNRWA over that incident.
Furthermore, not all incidents of crimes committed by UN personnel have had to do with stealing humanitarian aid.
Corruption in United Nations officials is nothing new, but what makes this particularly egregious, if it is proven true, is that the aid being stolen is intended for the few remaining innocents in Gaza; the very fact that diapers were among the items allegedly stolen speaks to that. The fact is this: The United Nations is an organization that has outlived any usefulness it ever had. It's time for the organization to disband or, barring that, for the United States to withdraw our membership and all support.
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