UN Watch Asks UN to Strip UNRWA Head of Legal Immunity

During the course of its campaign in Gaza, the IDF found evidence, including lists of Hamas members, that hundreds of members of UNRWA were also members of Hamas, and some had even taken part in the October 7, 2023 attack on the Nova Music Festival and more than 20 kibbutzim. They also discovered the extensive use Hamas made of UNRWA facilities, especially schools, to hide both combatants and weapons. In fact, Hamas’ largest command-and-control center was built directly under UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza. At no time did UNRWA object to Hamas’ use of its buildings.

Now UN Watch, an NGO that has long been critical of the UN for its animus toward the Jewish state, has asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to waive the legal immunity of the outgoing director of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, so that he can be charged with turning a blind eye to the longstanding Hamas-UNRWA connection. More on this request can be found here: “On His Way Out, UNRWA Chief Faces Calls for Criminal Probe Into Hamas Infiltration,” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, July 2, 2026:

UN Watch, a prominent watchdog organization critical of the United Nations, has called on Secretary-General António Guterres to waive the legal immunity of outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, arguing that the longtime UN official should face criminal investigation over allegations that he enabled an agency increasingly infiltrated by Hamas.

The request, submitted Tuesday by UN Watch, comes as Lazzarini concludes his tenure leading the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a controversial humanitarian organization that has faced mounting scrutiny since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

In a formal legal letter invoking Section 20 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, UN Watch argues that immunity exists to protect the interests of the UN rather than individual officials and should be waived when it could obstruct justice.

“For years, we repeatedly warned Mr. Lazzarini that Hamas had deeply infiltrated UNRWA,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said in a statement. The organization said it provided UN officials with documentation alleging that numerous UNRWA employees — including teachers, school administrators and labor union leaders — maintained ties to Hamas, which the US, EU and other Western governments designate as a terrorist organization.

UN Watch alleges that despite those warnings, Lazzarini continued to oversee an agency whose personnel and facilities were exploited by Hamas and other militant groups operating in Gaza. The organization contends that these actions warrant investigation for possible complicity in terrorism, war crimes and crimes against humanity, while emphasizing that any determination of criminal liability would ultimately be made by competent judicial authorities.

“We provided detailed evidence identifying Hamas-affiliated teachers, school principals, union leaders, and other employees,” Neuer said. “We documented repeated meetings between senior UNRWA officials — including Mr. Lazzarini himself — and leaders of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Yet he continued to assure governments that UNRWA’s neutrality mechanisms were effective while overseeing an agency whose personnel, facilities, and resources were being exploited by terrorist groups.”…

UNRWA has consistently rejected accusations that it knowingly cooperated with Hamas, saying it acts swiftly when credible evidence of staff misconduct emerges and that it operates under exceptionally difficult conditions inside Gaza. The agency has argued that the overwhelming majority of its more than 30,000 employees carry out humanitarian work providing food, education and medical care to Palestinian civilians….

“Among the individuals referred were UNRWA school principals, teachers, security personnel, attendants, psychosocial counselors, and medical professionals,” the USAID inspector general’s office noted.

That overlap between UNRWA employees and Hama operatives is devastating: 101 UNRWA employees of every kind — teachers, principals, counselors , medical professionals, and others — have been found to have also been Hamas terrorists. That is a huge number. The claim that Lazzarini would not have known of any of this beggars belief.  Nor could he have been unaware of all the UNRWA facilities that had been taken over by Hamas, including hundreds of school buildings, that were used by Hamas to store weapons, to hide combatants, and even to contain rocket launchers.

António Guterres has shown himself to be deeply anti-Israel, and no doubt would like to save Philippe Lazzarini, with whom he agrees on so much, from legal liability. On the other hand, he retires at the end of this year, and would not want to have his historical legacy stained by his having protected someone who collaborated with a recognized terrorist group. He may yet do the right thing.