US judge rejects $1 billion lawsuit accusing UNRWA of complicity in Oct 7 attack

Federal U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York has rejected a lawsuit that accuses the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of assisting the Hamas terrorist organization during the Oct. 7 terror attack in southern Israel, The New York Times reported on Friday. Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 into Gaza during the attack.

“The findings in this lawsuit demonstrate that UNRWA was aware of and actively participated in the diversion of funds earmarked to support the people of Gaza into channels that ensured those funds were used for terrorism and in violation of international law,” argued Bijan Amini, one of the leading attorneys in the lawsuit.

However, Judge Torres ruled that UNRWA is immune from prosecution as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations.

“Because UNRWA is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations and has not waived its immunity,” Torres responded, “this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims. Defendants’ motion to dismiss is granted, and the complaint dismissed.”

Approximately 100 victims of the Oct. 7 attack filed the lawsuit last June, seeking $1 billion in compensation. They argued that UNRWA supported Hamas in multiple ways, including by allowing the terror group to use UNRWA facilities to store weapons and build underground command centers beneath its buildings. The agency also allegedly facilitated the transfer of funds to Hamas through employee salary payments in U.S. dollars.

However, UNRWA’s legal status remains contested. Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department argued in a letter that the agency is not considered a “subsidiary organ” of the United Nations under the International Organizations Immunities Act and therefore does not enjoy immunity in the United States.

In January 2024, the United States and several other donor nations suspended financial aid to UNRWA after Israel presented incriminating evidence showing that UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 atrocities. Last year, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented a list of UNRWA employees who were allegedly involved.

Israeli intelligence has estimated that at least 10% of UNRWA employees in Gaza are affiliated with Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Last November, a UNRWA employee testified that Hamas members were using the UN agency’s facilities and vehicles to carry out terrorist attacks.

Despite these accusations, the head of UNRWA, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, has refused to take responsibility. In a March interview, Lazzarini said he was confident that he was “on the right side of history” and that UNRWA was the victim of a smear campaign.

“October 7 basically ... destroyed the last protection dikes that UNRWA might have had,” he said at the time, decrying the “arsenal” of efforts that seek "to try to discredit the agency, attack the agency, get rid of the agency.”

Additional scandals have recently come to light. Last month, UN Watch published a report revealing that senior Hamas operatives held positions within UNRWA’s educational system.

“UNRWA knew – and did nothing,” the watchdog group stated, adding: “By knowingly employing Hamas terrorist leaders as school principals and teachers, and by allowing terror chiefs to head the unions that oversee thousands of their teachers, UNRWA didn’t just tolerate extremism – the Western-funded UN agency institutionalized it, turning classrooms into incubators of hate.”