Victims of October 7 massacre file lawsuit against UNRWA for aiding Hamas terrorists

The scandal-plagued United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing a lawsuit in Manhattan for its alleged role in aiding the terrorist movement Hamas to slaughter nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7 in Israel, including more than 30 Americans.

The lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on Monday, which was first exclusively reported on by the host of FOX Business Network’s Making Money with Charles Payne, lays out the charges against the controversial U.N. agency.

The lawsuit stated, “Hamas did not carry out these atrocities without assistance. It was aided and abetted by, among others, the above-named defendants, who are current or former senior officials of the UNRWA, as well as UNRWA itself, who collectively spent over a decade prior to the October 7 Attack helping Hamas build up the terror infrastructure and personnel that were necessary to carry out the October 7 Attack, including by knowingly providing Hamas with the U.S. dollars in cash that it needed to pay smugglers for weapons, explosives, and other terror materiel.”

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The lawsuit, filed by Chicago-based law firm MM-Law LLC and New York firm Amini LLC, claims the “Defendants were warned repeatedly that their policies were directly providing assistance to Hamas. In the face of those warnings, Defendants continued those very policies.”

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, was named as one of the defendants. Israel’s government called on Lazzarini to resign in January amid allegations that UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 mass murder.

The legal claim argues that Lazzarini and UNRWA ignored that “The resulting atrocities were foreseeable, and the Defendants are liable for aiding and abetting Hamas’ genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture.”

According to the lawsuit, UNRWA’s permanent New-York based staff facilitated necessary ongoing support for UNRWA’s field offices in the Middle East, resulting in the “provision of financial and other material support to Hamas’ terror infrastructure in Gaza.”

Over $1 billion from UNRWA’s New York bank account in Manhattan was involved in allegedly benefiting the U.S.designated terrorist organization Hamas, the lawsuit noted.

After revelations about UNRWA workers participating in the Oct. 7 slaughter, the U.S. suspended its aid to UNRWA. However, many generous funders of UNRWA, including Germany, Austria and other Western European countries, restarted their funding after temporary suspensions. The European Union pledged an additional $54 million to UNRWA after Oct. 7.

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Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, left, listens as Ambassador Gilad Erdan of Israel speaks during a Security Council meeting on the Palestinian question and accusations against United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Ref (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The lawsuit argues that UNRWA enabled Hamas to install rocket launchers and its terror infrastructure “so close to UNRWA property that it could not be struck by Israeli forces without risk of damage to UNRWA property and harm to children and noncombatants present in UNRWA schools and other facilities.”

According to the legal document, “Despite knowing of Hamas’ use of UNRWA premises, consistently taking the position with Israel that UNRWA premises were inviolate, thus making them safe havens for terrorists and their materiel and preventing Israel from disabling Hamas’ terror infrastructure prior to the October 7 Attack.”

Masked members of Hamas and other supporters take part in a protest against the U.S. decision to designate the chairman of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, as a terrorist, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on Feb. 1, 2018. (Photo by Wissam Nassar/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

David Bedein, whose organization, the Center for Near East Policy Research, produced 25 short documentaries on UNRWA corruption, told Fox News Digital that “half of the short documentaries show Hamas involved with UNRWA.” He said the storage of weapons in UNRWA facilities and near UNRWA schools and other buildings has been “blatant and open.”

Bedein, who is not involved in the lawsuit but has researched UNRWA for 37 years, noted “We have Hamas officials talking about their good relationship with UNRWA officials on the record.”

Palestinian women walk in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) during a protest against the reduction in food aid distribution in Gaza on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Yousef Masoud/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Bedein has published reports about UNRWA school books infected with antisemitism, terrorism and hatred of America.

According to the lawsuit, the schools UNRWA operates in the Gaza Strip “use Hamas-approved textbooks” and the curriculum and teachers’ guides… indoctrinate children from a young age into a death-cult ideology of hatred and genocide, predictably producing the next generation of Hamas recruits willing to commit terrorist acts.”

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The suit charged that UNRWA allowed “Hamas’ youth wing al-Kutla direct access to UNRWA schools and students to organize in-school and after-school programs to propagandize, indoctrinate, and recruit future terrorists, with the encouragement of Hamas affiliated teaching staff.”

Last month, Fox News Digital reported the Israel Defense Forces and the country’s domestic security agency Shin Bet announced that a military strike targeted a Hamas command center located in the UNRWA compound in the Gaza Strip.

In response to questions about the lawsuit, a spokesperson from UNRWA told FOX Business that “UNRWA is aware of reports of a lawsuit filed against it in the United States. However, as yet, it has not been served with any legal process and, therefore, is not in a position to comment at this time.”