UNRWA Reports Employee Fatally Shot by Sniper in Israeli Military Operation in West Bank

September 14, 2024 TruthUSA

UNRWA reported that for the first time in over a decade, a staff member was killed in the West Bank.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) stated on Friday that during an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, one of its staff members was shot and killed.

The individual, identified as Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, worked as a sanitation laborer in El Far’a Camp in the West Bank. UNRWA mentioned that Jawwad was shot by a sniper while on the roof of his home on Sept. 12.

This occurrence marked the first instance of a UNRWA staff member being killed in the Palestinian territory in more than ten years, according to the U.N. agency.

“UNRWA mourns the death of a colleague killed overnight in El Far’a Camp, in the northern West Bank,” the agency said in a statement. It noted that Jawwad is survived by his wife and five children.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, the international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), confirmed Jawwad’s death but claimed that the U.N. agency did not provide the full story about the incident.

Shoshani alleged that the U.N. worker was “hurling explosive devices that posed a threat to the forces operating in the area,” which prompted IDF troops to open fire to eliminate the threat.

“After receiving his details, it was discovered that the terrorist was known to Israeli security forces and had been involved in additional terrorist activities,” he explained on the social media site X.

The Epoch Times has contacted UNRWA for a response to Shoshani’s claim.

During Israeli airstrikes on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza on Sept. 11, six other UNRWA employees were killed, marking the highest fatality count among its staff in a single event, according to the agency.

“Among those who lost their lives was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members assisting displaced persons,” the agency stated, calling on all parties to refrain from engaging in combat in or around educational institutions.

Shoshani addressed on X that the IDF had requested details and names of the workers deceased in the attack from UNRWA, but “despite repeated requests, UNRWA has not provided any answers.”

He stated that an IDF investigation suggests that “a considerable number of the names that have surfaced in the media and on social platforms are operatives of Hamas who participated in terrorist activities” against Israeli civilians and military personnel.

UNRWA has been under longstanding criticism from Israel and others, accusing the organization of collaborating with terrorist groups and utilizing educational materials in Palestinian schools that promote anti-Semitism and jihadism.

In a recent development, an internal U.N. probe discovered that nine employees from one of its agencies might have been involved in Hamas’s attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and these employees were dismissed.

Following the 2023 assault by Hamas that resulted in over 1,100 fatalities and 250 individuals being taken captive, Israel initiated its military operation in Gaza.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

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