The State Department has proposed barring three former UNRWA employees from participating in U.S.-funded programs after a federal watchdog linked them to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad and alleged that two were involved in kidnapping or holding Israeli civilians during and after the October 7 attacks.
The new actions were disclosed Wednesday by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General, which has been investigating current and former employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
One former UNRWA teacher was identified by investigators as a Hamas military operative in the Deir el Balah Battalion and is alleged to have participated in kidnapping operations during the October 7 attack.
A second former teacher, also described as a Hamas operative in the Deir el Balah Battalion, allegedly received and held civilian hostages beginning on October 7.
A third former teacher was identified through Hamas military records as an operative in the Rafah Brigade of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and was allegedly present in Israel during the attack.
The State Department has proposed all three for debarment, an administrative measure that can prevent an individual from participating in U.S. government contracts, grants and other federally funded programs.
The proposals are not final debarments and do not constitute criminal convictions.
USAID OIG said further referrals to the State Department are expected and that potential criminal referrals to the Department of Justice could also follow.
A fourth case was dropped because the suspect was dead
The inspector general also disclosed that another proposed debarment involved Faisal Ali Al-Naami, a former UNRWA social worker whom investigators described as a Hamas military communications operative.
Al-Naami was allegedly involved in the kidnapping of a civilian from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7.
His proposed debarment was terminated after records indicated that he was deceased.
The August 26 announcement represents the latest concrete action arising from a much broader U.S. investigation into alleged terrorist ties among current and former UNRWA personnel.
But the numbers involved in that investigation have also become the subject of misleading headlines.
Trump shared claim that more than 100 UNRWA employees participated in October 7
President Donald Trump shared a Just the News article Wednesday night under the headline:
“USAID report finds more than 100 UNRWA employees participated in Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7.”
That is not precisely what USAID’s inspector general has said.
In June, USAID OIG announced that it had referred the names of 101 current or former UNRWA staff members for suspension or debarment consideration.
The inspector general said those referrals concerned individuals identified “for participation in the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and/or affiliation with the military wing (al-Qassam Brigades) of Hamas.”
The words “and/or” are important.
They mean that the group includes people accused of participating in the attack, people allegedly affiliated with Hamas’s military wing, and potentially people who fall into both categories.
USAID OIG has not publicly disclosed how the 101 names are divided between those categories.
The June referral brought the cumulative number of subjects referred by the investigation to 108.
It therefore cannot accurately be stated, based on the inspector general’s published findings, that all 108 personally participated in the October 7 attack.
A more precise description is that more than 100 current or former UNRWA employees have been referred for U.S. administrative action over alleged October 7 involvement and/or affiliation with Hamas.
Earlier investigation gave a clearer breakdown
An April 30 USAID OIG announcement provides a useful indication of how the categories differ.
At that stage of the investigation, the watchdog said referrals had been made involving seven subjects alleged to have participated in the October 7 attacks and 14 subjects identified as having Hamas affiliations.
That was the clearest public numerical separation USAID OIG has provided.
When the investigation expanded to 108 subjects, however, the agency no longer published separate totals for alleged attack participants and alleged Hamas affiliates.
The precise current breakdown therefore remains unknown.
Teachers and school administrators among those identified
USAID OIG has nevertheless released details about several individual cases.
In its June announcement, investigators described a UNRWA deputy school principal who allegedly served as a deputy company commander in an al-Qassam Brigades infantry battalion.
Another deputy principal was described as a squad leader in the Khan Younis Brigade.
A UNRWA teacher was identified as having expertise as a Hamas sniper.
Another teacher was allegedly a Hamas soldier who had orders to deliver two anti-tank missiles to a designated location during the October 7 attack.
Investigators also identified a deputy school principal as a Hamas Nuseirat Battalion platoon commander who allegedly had communications responsibilities on October 7.
Those allegations remain at different stages of the U.S. administrative process and should not be confused with completed debarments or criminal convictions.
One former UNRWA principal has already been barred for 10 years
So far, one individual in the investigation has received a completed U.S. government-wide debarment.
In February, USAID OIG announced a 10-year debarment against Hafez Mousa Mohammed Mousa, a former UNRWA school principal.
Investigators described Mousa as an operative in Hamas’s East Jabaliya Battalion and said he coordinated communications with suspected Hamas members during the October 7 attacks.
The debarment prevents him from participating in federal contracting, grants and other covered U.S. government transactions during the 10-year period.
USAID OIG described the case as the first known U.S. debarment of a terrorist affiliated with a United Nations agency responsible for humanitarian assistance.
The investigation is designed in part to prevent individuals removed from one organization from later obtaining work through another U.S.-funded humanitarian program.
The UN’s earlier October 7 investigation was separate
The USAID investigation should also not be confused with the United Nations’ own inquiry into allegations against UNRWA staff immediately following October 7.
Israel initially accused 12 UNRWA employees of involvement in the attacks in January 2024.
Additional allegations eventually brought the number reviewed by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services to 19.
In August 2024, the UN said evidence in nine cases could indicate involvement in the attacks if authenticated and corroborated. Those employees were terminated.
In nine other cases, the evidence was judged insufficient, while one case produced no evidence supporting the allegation.
That investigation involved a separate group of individuals, a different investigative body and a different evidentiary process from the later USAID OIG probe.
The Colonna review did not investigate who participated in October 7
Another frequently cited investigation, the independent review led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, examined UNRWA’s internal neutrality safeguards.
It did not investigate whether specific UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 attack.
The review found that UNRWA had more developed neutrality procedures than many comparable humanitarian organizations, while also identifying weaknesses and recommending dozens of reforms.
Using the Colonna report either as proof that UNRWA employees participated in October 7 or as proof that none did would therefore go beyond the report’s actual mandate.
No direct UNRWA response to latest U.S. findings identified
As of August 27, no specific public response from UNRWA or the United Nations to the June and August 2026 USAID OIG findings has been identified.
UNRWA has previously rejected claims that the organization as a whole is systematically controlled or infiltrated by Hamas and has said allegations against individual employees should not be generalized to its approximately 30,000-member global workforce.
Israel has made considerably broader claims about Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad ties among UNRWA employees in Gaza, including intelligence assessments alleging that roughly 10 percent of the Gaza workforce had connections to terrorist organizations.
Those broader figures have not been independently validated by USAID OIG, the UN investigation or the Colonna review and should be treated separately from the specific U.S. referrals announced in 2026.
What actually changed this week
The figure of more than 100 referred UNRWA employees is not new.
USAID OIG disclosed the 101-name referral and the cumulative figure of 108 subjects in June.
The new development announced on August 26 is that the State Department has progressed from receiving referrals to proposing formal debarment against three specific former UNRWA employees.
Two involve particularly serious allegations directly connected to Israeli civilians: participation in kidnapping operations and holding hostages after October 7.
A third involves alleged membership in Palestinian Islamic Jihad and presence in Israel during the attack.
Those cases are now moving through the U.S. administrative process.
The wider investigation remains open.
And while more than 100 current or former UNRWA employees have been referred over alleged October 7 involvement and/or Hamas affiliation, the U.S. government has not publicly said that more than 100 of them personally participated in the October 7 attacks.
