Trump Escalates Pressure on UNRWA as Alleged Hamas Links Ensnare Dozens of Employees

President Donald Trump recently boosted a report on a U.S. government investigation that referred more than 100 current and former UNRWA employees over alleged Hamas connections, as a separate watchdog report alleges the U.N. agency has overstated the extent of its reforms.

The renewed attention — which included Trump sharing the report on Truth Social in August — coincides with the release of a UN Watch report Monday disputing UNRWA’s assertion that it has completed 41 of 50 reforms proposed by an independent review led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.

After comparing UNRWA’s assessment with Colonna’s original recommendations, UN Watch concluded that no more than 13 of the 50 reforms had been carried out as prescribed. The watchdog group said UNRWA frequently treated policy drafting, pilot projects and planning efforts as finished reforms despite a lack of full implementation.

“UNRWA is grading its own homework — and giving itself credit for reforms that exist mainly on paper,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer told News Media. “A policy is not a reform if it is ignored, unenforced or blocked by staff unions dominated by Hamas.”

Staff screening is among the examples highlighted in the report. UNRWA has identified a “Commercial Vetting Pilot & Costed Plan” as complete, along with other vetting measures. But UN Watch contends that a pilot program and an implementation blueprint fall short of establishing a fully functioning independent vetting system.

The watchdog also questioned UNRWA’s claimed progress on education reforms. The agency lists systematic textbook reviews and random classroom inspections as completed measures, even as its policy barring problematic educational material remains categorized as “in progress.”

When she presented her review in April 2024, Colonna said some educational material was still troubling, pointing to the “glorification of jihad,” incitement to violence and maps that omitted Israel. She called for a zero-tolerance approach.

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Pressed by News Media at Tuesday’s U.N. briefing over who independently verifies whether the reforms are actually working on the ground, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric defended the process.

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“It is not just checking boxes for the sake of checking boxes,” Dujarric said, “It’s about the implementation of those things.”

Dujarric said UNRWA regularly reports to the General Assembly, holds integrity meetings open to member states and gives governments opportunities to scrutinize what the agency is doing.

Asked specifically about staff screening, he said UNRWA relies in part on countries where it operates.

“We rely on the member states also, where we operate, who have the capacity to check people to do so,” Dujarric said, adding that UNRWA shares staff lists with Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian authorities. “If there are concerns, they need to be shared directly with UNRWA. When they are, they take action.”

The Colonna review was commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in February 2024 after allegations that UNRWA employees had participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Guterres accepted all 50 recommendations in April 2024 and agreed with UNRWA leadership to establish an action plan to implement them.

Neuer rejected the idea that the disagreement is merely about terminology.

“This is not a semantic disagreement over the meaning of ‘completed,’” he said. “UNRWA says the job is done, yet teachers tied to terrorist organizations remain in classrooms, Hamas-dominated unions obstruct discipline, and children continue to be exposed to incitement. Those are real-world consequences, not technicalities.”