UNRWA head: I didn't know suspended employee was a Hamas commander

"Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, on Monday denied knowing that one of the agency’s employees, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, was a Hamas commander in Lebanon, Reuters reported.

Hamas announced earlier that el-Amin, who led its Lebanon branch, was eliminated in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon along with family members.

Lazzarini acknowledged that el-Amin had been suspended from his job and put under investigation back in March due to concerns about his affiliations, but added, ‘The specific allegation at the time was that (he was) a part of the local leadership... I never heard the word commander before. What's obvious for you today, was not obvious yesterday.’...

UNRWA, which has long been criticized for cooperating with Hamas, has come under increased scrutiny as its workers have been found to have been directly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

Israel said in January of this year that UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. It then presented a dossier showing that the UNRWA workers who participated in the Hamas massacre kidnapped a woman, handed out ammunition and actively took part in the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, where 97 people were murdered...

Recently, however, the UN acknowledged for the first time that employees of UNRWA may have been involved in Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel.

Lazzarini has resisted Israel’s calls for him to step down, has consistently insisted he had no knowledge of how deep Hamas is involved in UNRWA, and has instead continued to level accusations at Israel, claiming it seeks to ’erase UNRWA’."