USAID Inspector General Investigation Finds 21 UNRWA Staff Allegedly Linked to Hamas or October 7 Attack

The USAID Office of Inspector General released an investigative summary on April 30 that cited four additional current or former UNRWA staffers alleged to have participated in the holding of civilian hostages kidnapped from Israel and the terrorist activities in Israel on October 7, 2023.

Of the four, three were teachers and one was a social worker. More than 100 UNRWA officials are being investigated by the USAID Office of Inspector General, with evidence now supporting that at least 21 UNRWA staffers were affiliated with Hamas or participated in the October 7, 2023 terror attack.

All 21 UNRWA staffers have been proposed for suspension or debarment from receiving federal funds for the next decade. The findings build on the debarment of UNRWA school principal Hafez Mousa Mohammed Mousa, who served as an operative in Hamas’ East Jabaliya Battalion and helped coordinate communications for the October 7 attack.

Hafez Mousa Mohammed Mousa is the only individual who has been named so far as part of the investigation and was debarred from receiving federal funds for the next 10 years.

A senior US diplomat said following Hafez Mousa Mohammed Mousa’s debarment that the list of UNRWA officials under investigation was expanding. A senior State Department official told The Post that the recent investigation by the USAID IG confirms that the UN is deficient in vetting its own staff for ties to terrorist organizations.

The official added that because the UN itself does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization, both UN agencies and local NGOs may still hire Hamas-affiliated staff that place programs at high risk for diversion.

” regarding the four most recent UNRWA employees flagged for Hamas ties. The DOJ and FBI have been looking into allegations that UNRWA employees assisted Hamas, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One of those people noted that USAID OIG’s evidence could be forwarded to prosecutors should they decide to bring a case.

“The FBI is involved in the matter on the counterterrorism side due to the murder of Americans in Israel,” the other source said. U.S. citizens.

More than 250 hostages were taken back to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. U.S. taxpayer funding to UNRWA being diverted to terror groups.

U.S. 5 billion during the Biden administration. UNRWA got more than $839 million in funding through the United Nations in the 2025 calendar year.

8 billion with a provision eliminating American tax dollars to any group that doesn’t cooperate with the USAID OIG investigation. 4 billion package for recovery and reconstruction in Gaza. UNRWA had already faced a civil suit that alleged it aided and abetted Hamas by providing more than $1 billion to Gaza.

A Manhattan federal judge ruled in October 2025 that UNRWA has immunity from the civil suit. President Trump’s DOJ moved to strip UNRWA of immunity in April 2025 and appealed US District Judge Analisa Torres’ decision to the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals. -designated terror organization that has killed Americans and conspiring to bomb locations or use weapons of mass destruction.

The charges against senior Hamas leaders carry a maximum penalty of life in prison or the death penalty. Financing terrorism or evading sanctions in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison each.