By Pesach Benson • August 27, 2026
Jerusalem, 27 August, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The U.S. government has moved to bar three former employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from participating in federally funded activities after an investigation found links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said Wednesday.
The cases are part of a broader investigation that has referred more than 100 current and former UNRWA employees to the State Department for independent review of alleged involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks or affiliations with Hamas.
A UNRWA facility in the southern Gaza town of Rafah where Israeli forces discovered a Hamas tunnel in June. Photo by TPS-IL
Among those now facing a government-wide ban is a former UNRWA teacher identified as a Hamas military operative in the Deir el-Balah Battalion who took part in kidnapping operations during the attacks.
A second former teacher was identified through Hamas military records as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in its Rafah Brigade and was was in Israel on Oct. 7. A third former teacher was identified as a Hamas operative in the Deir el-Balah Battalion who received and held civilian hostages from Israel.
The OIG said the investigation has also produced a government-wide ban on Hafez Mousa Mohammed Mousa, a former UNRWA school principal identified as a Hamas operative. He was found to have coordinated communications with other suspected Hamas members during the Oct. 7 attacks.
That case marked “the first known debarment by the U.S. of a terrorist affiliated with a UN agency responsible for humanitarian assistance programming,” the inspector general said.
A fourth former UNRWA employee, Faisal Ali Al-Naami, was also proposed for debarment over an allegation that he participated in the kidnapping of a civilian from Kibbutz Be’eri. The proposal was terminated after records showed he had died.
The inspector general said further referrals to the State Department are expected, along with possible criminal referrals to the Justice Department.
The OIG said the investigation is aimed at preventing U.S. aid from reaching terror organizations and their affiliates.
UNRWA has been under fire for years, with Israeli officials demanding the agency be stripped of its authority in Gaza and defunded amid revelations that members of the agency’s staff participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
More than 100 survivors of Hamas’s October 7 attacks filed a $1 billion lawsuit against UNRWA in 2024, accusing the agency of “aiding and abetting” the terror group. The suit also alleges that UNRWA enacted an employee payment scheme to benefit Hamas in violation of UN protocols.
Palestinian refugees are the only refugee population with its own dedicated UN agency. The rest of the world’s refugees fall under the mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Israeli officials have called for UNRWA to be closed and for Palestinian refugees to be brought under the responsibility of the UNHCR.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7.
