UN Watch seeks criminal probe of outgoing UNRWA chief over complicity in terrorism, war crimes

UN Watch, a nongovernmental organization that monitors the United Nations, formally asked Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday to waive the legal immunity of outgoing UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

Lazzarini, who has led the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) since 2020, concluded his term on June 30. In a legal letter, UN Watch invoked Section 20 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and urged Guterres to lift Lazzarini’s immunity so he can face criminal investigation and possible prosecution for alleged violations of international law, including complicity in terrorism, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“For years, we repeatedly warned Mr. Lazzarini that Hamas had deeply infiltrated UNRWA,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said in a statement.

Neuer continued: “We provided detailed evidence identifying Hamas-affiliated teachers, school principals, union leaders, and other employees. We documented repeated meetings between senior UNRWA officials – including Mr. Lazzarini himself – and leaders of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. Yet he continued to assure governments that UNRWA’s neutrality mechanisms were effective while overseeing an agency whose personnel, facilities, and resources were being exploited by terrorist groups.”

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset voted to ban UNRWA from operating in Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) due to the involvement of UNRWA employees with the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel, initiated by the Hamas terrorist organization.

Israeli officials have said that at least 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza workforce has ties to Hamas or other terrorist groups. In February 2024, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant disclosed the names of 12 UNRWA employees whom Israel said had taken part in the Oct. 7 massacre and kidnappings.

A subsequent probe by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Inspector General identified more than 100 UNRWA staff members with alleged links to Hamas, according to reports. UNRWA later dismissed 70 employees over ties to the terrorist group.

In June, Neuer welcomed the move but said they addressed only a small part of the problem, saying, “This is a drop in the ocean. There are another 1,500 Hamas members receiving salaries from the UN.”

“The credibility of the United Nations depends on demonstrating that immunity is not a shield for impunity,” Neuer said in a statement earlier this week.

On the same day, the United Nations held its pledging conference for UNRWA’s 2026 operations, where former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock – president of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly – urged member states to continue the funding.

“Urgently increase your contributions,” Baerbock said. “Sustain UNRWA’s schools. Help rebuild those that have been destroyed, especially in Gaza. Keep this lifeline intact—and with it, hope for 500,000 Palestinian children. Let me close by reiterating the call I made at the UNRWA Ministerial Meeting last September: that every Member State must do everything in its power to fund this Agency. For the truth is plain: if UNRWA cannot deliver, who will instead?”