The United Nations was criticized by Israel’s foreign minister on Monday while the organization’s court began a hearing on Israel’s legal obligations in Gaza.
Gidon Sa’ar described the U.N. as a “corrupt, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic entity” that should be held accountable for concealing terrorist connections within the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), who, he claimed, were involved in the attacks on October 7, 2023. Sa’ar stated, “The U.N. needs to be held responsible for these actions.”
During a press conference, he announced that Israel had chosen “not to participate in this spectacle,” which he believes is designed to undermine Israel’s “fundamental right to self-defense.”
Photos released by the Israeli Defense Force show three individuals that the Israeli military claims are Hamas terrorists inside an UNRWA compound in Rafah. (IDF)
Lazzarini terminated the appointments of some of the UNRWA staffers who participated in the Oct. 7 attacks.
Dujarric also noted the “depletion of critical stocks” in Gaza since Israel blocked all aid to Gaza in March in an attempt to force a ceasefire with Hamas. Not only is food running out, but Dujarric said that trauma-related medical supplies, surgical supplies, therapeutic milk, medicines, and other important items are in short supply.
In a statement regarding the ICJ hearings on April 28, U.N. Legal Counsel Elinor Hammarskjöld outlined the U.N.’s concerns about Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. Referencing the Israeli Knesset’s law banning UNRWA’s operation, passed in October 2024, she stated that Israel cannot deny impartial humanitarian organizations from providing relief, and that concerns about the impartiality of such organizations may not be made unilaterally by an occupying power.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement at UN Headquarters on the situation in the Middle East following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel. He reiterated his concern for civilian lives to be protected, he thanked Egypt for its help via Rafah crossing into Gaza and stated that humanitarian aid should be delivered to people of Gaza. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Hammarskjöld also said that U.N. premises are “inviolable,” per the Geneva Convention, and “immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation, or any other form of interference.”
In February, however, the State of Israel’s statement on the ICJ’s proceedings noted various incidents that demonstrate how UNRWA has violated the guiding principles of “neutrality, impartiality, and independence” mandated by the U.N.
A military parade of the Hamas terrorist organization before the transfer of four Israeli female hostages to the Red Cross on January 25th, 2025. (TPS-IL)
Israel’s statement also lays out a variety of times when terrorist organizations “use and exploit UNRWA installations as hideouts and places of refuge” and claims agency staff “have assisted or closed their eyes to terrorists seeking refuge at those sites.” The U.S. suspended aid to UNRWA after learning that some of its members participated in the Oct. 7 attack.
On April 24, the U.S. Justice Department determined that UNRWA, as a specialized agency of the U.N., is not entitled to diplomatic immunity in the U.S. In a lawsuit filed in June 2024 in the Southern District of New York, 100 victims of the Oct. 7 attack are seeking $1 billion in damages from UNRWA. Lazzarini is a named defendant in the suit.
