For decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has branded itself as a humanitarian lifeline for Palestinians. But mounting evidence from Israeli intelligence, U.S. congressional hearings, and the agency’s own behavior since October 7 tells a very different story.
UNRWA is not a neutral relief agency. It has become a Hamas front group that radicalizes children, employs terrorists, and channels international aid to fuel war against Israel.
A Temporary Agency That Became Permanent
UNRWA was created in 1949 after a war launched by five Arab armies seeking to destroy the newly declared State of Israel. Established to assist roughly 700,000 Arab refugees, it was designed to be temporary — a short-term relief program to prevent starvation and stabilize the region.
Instead, it became permanent. As of 2024, UNRWA remains the only UN agency that grants hereditary refugee status, inflating its registry from 700,000 to 5.9 million people — many of whom are citizens elsewhere. Over time, the agency embedded itself in Hamas’s network, funneling billions in foreign aid into Gaza’s terror infrastructure instead of humanitarian relief.
Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman, has described UNRWA as “irredeemably corrupt and part of the reason Hamas was able to recruit tens of thousands of jihad-indoctrinated youth.” Writing in The Jerusalem Post, he warned that “the last place any child should be is in the very hands of the system that produced generations of jihadi foot soldiers.”
The Myth of Humanitarian Aid
Despite its record, UNRWA still enjoys wide support from Western governments, NGOs, and celebrities. In 2024, international artists and influencers raised nearly $150 million to “keep Gaza’s schools running.” But these schools are where Hamas’s ideology begins. Teachers have celebrated terrorism, textbooks glorify martyrdom, and UNRWA compounds have been built directly above Hamas tunnels.
Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told the U.S. Congress that UNRWA is “a horror show that is decades in the making, co-produced by the U.S. taxpayer.” He emphasized that the agency’s so-called humanitarian work “indoctrinates generation after generation to hate Jews, to destroy Israel, and to manifest themselves as those who will wipe the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea.”
UNRWA and Hamas: One and the Same
Israeli intelligence has confirmed that 12 percent of UNRWA’s Gaza staff — roughly 1,462 employees — are registered members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. At least a dozen participated directly in the October 7 massacre. A Telegram group with more than 3,000 UNRWA teachers openly celebrated the attacks, flooding the chat with rocket emojis and videos praising Hamas.
The agency’s facilities have been used as weapons depots, staging grounds, and even command centers powered by UNRWA’s own utilities. In 2024, the IDF uncovered a Hamas operations bunker directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters.
Even after these revelations, UNRWA quietly resumed classes in Gaza in October 2025 — still under Hamas oversight and using the same antisemitic textbooks that glorify jihad and erase Israel from maps.
Global Funding Despite Terror Ties
Following October 7, Congress froze U.S. funding to UNRWA through March 2025. Despite the freeze, Democrats introduced a bill to restore funding only months later. Across Europe, governments in Germany, France, and Sweden also resumed tens of millions in aid after a UN “review” whitewashed evidence of terrorism.
Israel has since gone further, officially banning UNRWA operations inside its territory. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a former senator and now America’s top diplomat — declared that UNRWA is “a subsidiary of Hamas” that must have no role in Gaza’s future.
The Bottom Line
UNRWA doesn’t support refugees; it supports their radicalization. Every dollar sent to the agency strengthens Hamas’s grip, fuels hatred, and delays peace. As Conricus put it, “If we want a deradicalized Gaza, UNRWA must be removed alongside Hamas.” The world must stop pretending this is humanitarian work. It is state-funded indoctrination in UN blue.
