The Israeli defense establishment was caught by surprise when UNRWA announced that it had been informed about allegations that employees of the agency had taken part in the October 7 massacre, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

According to the report, leaders in the IDF were so shocked when a senior US diplomat contacted them last week to request further details about allegations concerning the UNRWA employees that they ordered an internal inquiry about how the information about the allegations had leaked.

While many Israeli officials are opposed to UNRWA, some military leaders didn't want to see the agency shuttered amid the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

According to the Times, on January 18, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini met with senior Israeli diplomat Amir Weissbrod in Tel Aviv for a routine, periodic meeting, but Weissbrod surprised Lazzarini by supplying him with intelligence about UNRWA employees' involvement in the massacre.

After the meeting, Lazzarini assessed the allegations and flew to New York to meet with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, later firing the employees in question, a UN official told the Times.

Weapons found in Jabalya, Gaza. Some of them were found in UNRWA bags. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Weapons found in Jabalya, Gaza. Some of them were found in UNRWA bags. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Less than a week after the meeting in Tel Aviv, UNRWA told US officials about the allegations, leading US diplomats to ask the Israeli defense establishment for further clarification. The request from the US surprised the defense establishment as they were not aware that the allegations had been provided to UNRWA, raising concerns that the claims were being circulated without a proper strategy.

Officials in the Foreign Ministry were surprised by the developments as well, as they didn't expect donor states to react so quickly, an official briefed on the decision to provide UNRWA with the allegations told the Times.

UNRWA warns of imminent collapse

The rapid withdrawal of funding has sparked concerns within the UN that UNRWA could collapse, with Lazzarini saying recently that if funding remains suspended, the agency will most likely be forced to shut down operations by the end of February.

UNRWA has issued warnings repeatedly periodically for years saying that it is on the brink of collapse and calling on countries to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funding.