Hamas Leader Killed In Lebanon Was UNRWA Employee, UN Confirms

The man Israel described as the leader of Hamas in Lebanon was a United Nations employee, the agency confirmed Monday.

Fateh Al Sharif was killed during an Israeli military strike in Lebanon, Sky News reported, citing the Israeli military. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) confirmed that Sharif was an employee of the agency but had been on “administrative leave” since March while under investigation for his political activities.

“Fateh Al Sharif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March, and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities,” UNRWA told The Times of Israel.

Sharif, his wife, and children were killed on Monday during an Israeli airstrike that targeted their house in the al-Bass refugee camp in Tyre, Lebanon, on Monday. Sharif was reportedly the principal of a UNRWA-run secondary school in the area.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sharif “led the Hamas terrorist organization’s force build-up efforts in Lebanon and operated to advance Hamas’ interests in Lebanon, both politically and militarily.”

In March, UNRWA said that it had suspended Sharif over allegations that he was participating in activities “that are in violation of the Agency’s regulatory framework governing staff conduct.” His suspension led to widespread protests and strikes by teachers in the area, the Times reported.

Like Hezbollah, Hamas is backed by Iran.

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In August, the U.N. fired multiple UNRWA employees after finding evidence that they had been involved in the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, The Daily Wire reported at the time. A total of nine male UNRWA employees were fired.

Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told a U.N. briefing at the time that “the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved” in the attacks, which saw thousands of Palestinian terrorists enter Israel and murder 1,200 people while wounding more than 5,000 and taking hundreds hostage.

UNRWA finally admitted that some of its employees were terrorists after months of denials and claiming allegations were Israeli propaganda and “disinformation.”

The U.N. finally launched an investigation after Israeli authorities provided evidence that linked UNRWA workers to the Hamas terrorist attacks.

Earlier this year, Israel also discovered a top-secret Hamas intelligence center beneath a UNRWA building in Gaza, The Daily Wire previously reported. The center included an electrical room, living space for terrorists, and industrial battery power banks.

Also this year, it was discovered that about 10% of UNRWA’s 12,000 employees in Gaza were linked to terror groups across the Middle East, yet only a few were fired.

Even after all this, the Biden-Harris administration has called for the UNRWA employees who helped Hamas to be immune from prosecution, The Daily Wire reported.