UNRWA chief denies knowing that suspended employee was Hamas leader in Lebanon

Reuters: GENEVA (Reuters) - The chief of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) on Monday denied knowing that its employee Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was a Hamas commander in Lebanon and called on states to push back against Israeli attacks on the agency.

El-Amin, the head of Hamas' Lebanon branch, was killed along with family members in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the group said on Monday. He had been placed under investigation and suspended from his job at UNRWA in March following allegations concerning his politics, agency head Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.

"The specific allegation at the time was that (he was) a part of the local leadership... I never heard the word commander before," he said. "What's obvious for you today, was not obvious yesterday."

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said el-Amin had been on administrative leave without pay since March - "as soon as UNRWA received information about his possible involvement with Hamas at a senior level" - and had never been reinstated.

"As soon as information was received - in this case, from the Israeli government - action was taken," Dujarric told reporters. "Every time UNRWA has received information beyond just a name, action has been taken."

"Anyone who works for the U.N. and engages in terror, terror-like activity is unacceptable and outrageous and an insult to all U.N. staff members around the world," he said.

Lazzarini, who briefed press after meeting with U.N. member states earlier on Monday, said he had asked them to "push back on all the reputational attacks on the agency and the ongoing drafting of bills which could be adopted in Jerusalem."

He was referring to a move by the Israeli parliament to declare the organisation a "terrorist body" which has already received preliminary approval. Such a move would be "absolutely unconscionable", he added.

He also referred to attacks against the agency in the nearly year-long Gaza war that have killed 223 staff and damaged or destroyed around two-thirds of its facilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement. Previous Israeli allegations of staff ties to Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 led some countries to freeze funding earlier this year, although many of these have now been reversed, with the exception of major donor the United States.

The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the attacks and fired them.

Lazzarini said UNRWA faces an $80 million funding shortfall for this year and 2025 is looking "a little bit grim" as some European countries seek to cut aid budgets.

UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) was established in 1949 and provides relief to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, including in Lebanon where it says up to 250,000 reside.

Lazzarini said it was using existing shelters for Palestinian refugees to house some of the 1 million people displaced within Lebanon following two weeks of intensive Israeli strikes against Hezbollah.