Did they know? UN honors Hamas commander in ceremony for fallen UNRWA personnel
The UN secretary general, together with the president of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), paid tribute to a Hamas terrorist who was among the UNRWA personnel killed in Gaza’s war with Israel in a memorial ceremony in June.
Imad El Samhouri had been a teacher and later school principal employed by UNRWA, but a Hamas martyr video came to light exposing him as a Hamas field commander in the Muhammad al-Shamali Battalion of Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades.
The memorial ceremony was held on June 8, 2026, and was attended by both Sec.-Gen. António Guterres and UNGA President Annalena Baerbock, who lit an “eternal flame” in memory of the fallen staff as their names were read out, including that of El Samhouri.
During the ceremony, Guterres said it was the privilege of his life to work alongside people like him, that he would “commit to carrying forward their work,” and that people like El Samhouri “made our world a better place.”
In an open letter, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer drew attention to the compromised situation and asked for the tribute to be formally retracted:
“We call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock to retract their tribute, apologize to Hamas’s victims, and investigate,” he wrote.
The serious oversight is part of a pattern of hundreds of Hamas operatives being simultaneously employed by UNRWA, the extent of which has been cataloged and highlighted by UN Watch. The watchdog has uncovered evidence that 490 UNRWA staff have connections to terror groups, with potentially hundreds more.
In the martyr video which was made in advance of his death in a manner similar to a will, El Samhouri declares,
“Here I am for you, O beloved Palestine. The suns of my beloved have set; they dismounted and departed. We press on in our jihad, our hearts yearning for Al-Quds Al-Sharif, our eyes fixed on our heroic prisoners, and the plight of the refugees alive in our hearts.”
He spoke of blood, death and resistance, saying that he had chosen the path of jihad.
“Our anthem is that Death in the cause of Allah is our highest aspiration… Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, who has honored us with the tunnels and made them a means of resistance, a means by which the Zionist enemy never imagines we will emerge from beneath the ground, from beneath the rubble, from between the demolished homes.”
Meet Imad Yousif El Samhouri, veteran UNRWA teacher and school principal.
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 13, 2026
L: Samhouri honored by UN chief Antonio Guterres
R: Samhouri in Hamas terrorist martyr video
Samhouri's terror ties were known. 🧵⬇️
Why are 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇬🇧🇳🇴🇳🇱🇨🇭🇮🇹🇨🇦 funding terrorists to teach Palestinian kids? pic.twitter.com/7e4WmR3rfQ
Despite his high-level involvement with Hamas, El Samhouri was given responsibility for teaching children at UNRWA, even becoming the Deputy Principal of the Rafah Boys Preparatory School.
“El Samhouri didn't operate alone,” Neuer wrote on 𝕏. “He brought Hamas chiefs into UNRWA schools, like Rafah's Jumaa Al-Ghoul. He scouted for talent. Fellow UNRWA principal Muhammad Al-Bardawil was part of it. This wasn't a “bad apple.” It was a network.”
According to Neuer, so many UNRWA staff were members of the terror group that it has essentially become a subsidiary of Hamas.
“Muhammad Al-Bardawil headed UNRWA's Rafah Prep School B for Boys. His deputy Samhouri was a Hamas Commander. They repeatedly brought Hamas terrorists into the school,” he revealed.
“UNRWA employed Hamas terrorist commander Imad Yousif El Samhouri to work in many schools, giving him access to thousands of Gaza children. In 2017, UNRWA had him as school principal and third-grade teacher at their Ibn Sinaa Joint School,” Neuer wrote, providing evidence discovered by UN Watch.
Neuer told the UN chiefs that El Samhouri brought Hamas officials into UNRWA schools to address students and preside over ceremonies while wearing his UNRWA uniform.
“He used your schools to scout and recruit “talent” for Hamas-linked clubs,” he wrote, adding: “A quick glance at your colleague’s social media – photos of him with Hamas officials, posts glorifying the kidnapping and murder of Jews – shows that he was hiding in plain sight. UNRWA officials and colleagues knew.”
It is not clear how many staff within UNRWA knew of El Samhouri’s terror links, or if that knowledge was available to those responsible for the organization in the UN. However, in her role as Germany’s foreign minister, Baerbock provided €570 million ($620 million) to UNRWA, making Germany one of the largest donors to the agency and responsible for verifying how those funds were used.
Baerbock has served in the German government since 2013, becoming co-leader of the German Alliance 90/The Greens party and Germany’s first foreign minister. However, she has proved a controversial figure in German politics. Turning to address her specifically, Neuer continued,
“Madam President… In our UN Watch reports, we warned your government multiple times. Why did you resume funding UNRWA before demanding genuine accountability for its terrorist infiltration?”
“Will you now acknowledge that Germany’s assurances about UNRWA oversight were catastrophically wrong? Will you apologize for joining in the tribute to the Hamas commander your government helped employ?”
The request for an apology and retraction of the tribute to El Samhouri has not received a response.
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