United Nations official claims there is no evidence of staff being held hostages in Gaza

The United Nations’ top humanitarian aid official told Fox News Digital he has “not seen a shred of evidence” of the U.N.’s involvement, either through the use of its facilities or its staff, in the holding of hostages in Gaza. 

When asked about former Hamas hostages’ claims that they were held in U.N. facilities or by U.N. staff, Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), denied seeing any evidence of the claims.

“I have not seen a shred of evidence so far, and I have asked for it, that suggests that U.N. – that there was any U.N. acquiescence in there or involvement in using U.N. buildings or U.N. staff being involved in holding those hostages,” Fletcher said during a news conference. 

The U.N.’s Tom Fletcher attends a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 3, 2024. (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon called on the U.N. to investigate “these very serious claims.”

“We believe the testimonies of the Israeli hostages who went through hell in Hamas captivity. Rather than dedicating ample resources and efforts to demonizing Israel, the U.N. should be thoroughly investigating these very serious claims about U.N. complicity in depraved Hamas terrorism,” Danon said in the statement.

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, slammed the U.N. over its “singular pattern of behavior when confronted with the truth about UNRWA and the involvement of U.N. actors in terrorism against Jews: deny, deflect and carry on.”

“Israel has presented mountains of evidence of UNRWA’s participation in the Oct. 7 atrocities, and its ongoing attempts to save Hamas – which the U.N. denies is a terrorist organization,” Bayefsky added. “The ‘see no evil, hear no evil response’ – again – in the face of this gut-wrenching information from a hostage is quite simply, despicable.”

Israeli and U.N. flags outside the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Bayefsky said that “as far as the U.N. misinformation machine is concerned, the evidence is never enough.”

While Fletcher says he has not seen “a shred of evidence,” the U.N. Office of Oversight Services (OIOS), which reviewed Israel’s claims, said, “UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the 7 October attacks.”

The OIOS examined evidence of U.N. workers’ involvement in the attacks and found there was “insufficient” evidence of nine workers taking part in the massacre. However, it did not completely discount the possibility. In fact, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini issued a statement on the probe and determined that the employees in question “cannot work for UNRWA.”

Fox News reached out to a representative for Damari’s family, but did not receive a response to what Fletcher said.