The USAID Office of Inspector General (USAID OIG), a statutorily independent law enforcement and oversight entity, has referred for suspension/debarment consideration the names of 101 current or former staff at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) for participation in the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and/or affiliation with the military wing (al-Qassam Brigades) of Hamas. Among the individuals referred were UNRWA school principals, teachers, security personnel,
attendants, psychosocial counselors, and medical professionals, including:
- A deputy school principal serving as an al-Qassam deputy company commander in the Ain Gallout/5th infantry battalion.
- A deputy school principal serving as squad leader for the Khan Younis Brigade/2nd infantry battalion.
- A teacher serving as squad leader in Hamas’ military security department/intelligence unit who tracked assignment of explosive devices.
- A teacher serving as a platoon commander of the Central Brigade/Al Quds 2nd Battalion.
- A math & computer teacher with ties to an al-Qassam intelligence squad.
- A teacher with expertise as a sniper for Hamas.
- A teacher and Hamas soldier with orders to bring two anti-tank missiles to a prescribed location during the October 7 terror attacks.
- A deputy school principal serving as a platoon commander in Hamas’ Nuseirat battalion with communications responsibilities on October 7th.
- A school principal assigned to the chemical department of a Hamas military manufacturing unit whose school had three anti-tank positions and a tunnel shaft located under the facility.
USAID OIG independently referred these subjects to the U.S. Department of State for consideration of suspension and/or debarment action to exclude them from working across future U.S.-funded aid organizations. This referral includes individuals who were previously submitted for suspension/debarment consideration and for whom additional information has since been identified that, in our view, warranted a supplemental referral. Therefore, to date, USAID OIG’s active and ongoing investigation has resulted in suspension and debarment referrals for 108 subjects having participated in the October 7 and/or having Hamas affiliation.
Additional referrals to the Department of State are expected, as well as potential criminal referrals to the Department of
Justice. USAID OIG’s efforts have already led to the government wide debarment of Hafez Mousa Mohammed Mousa, an operative of the Hamas East Jabaliya Battalion, who was found to have coordinated communications with other suspected Hamas members during the October 7 attacks while serving as an UNRWA school principal. That action represented the first known debarment by the U.S. of a terrorist affiliated with a UN agency responsible for humanitarian assistance programming.
It remains USAID OIG’s investigative priority to ensure that U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance in Gaza does not fall into the hands of Hamas and other foreign terrorist organizations, depriving assistance from reaching civilian non-combatants in need. In support of this effort, USAID OIG has additional ongoing investigative work aimed at preventing the recirculation of terrorist-affiliated actors across U.S.-funded aid organizations operating in Gaza.
For more on USAID OIG’s investigative results and ongoing work, please visit https://oig.usaid.gov/our-work/investigations.
To confidentially report fraud, corruption, or diversion of aid to terrorist organizations, please visit https://oig.usaid.gov/report-fraud.