Key Findings on Fired UNRWA Employees:
- 1. Mohammed M. Issa: Publicly lionized senior Hamas military commanders, called on the “resistance” to abduct more Israeli citizens to initiate prisoner exchanges, and distributed highly disturbing propaganda imagery of infants holding automatic weapons.
- 2. Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh: Publicly exposed by state intelligence as a Hamas squad commander, openly rejected institutional neutrality mandates, and maintained administrative oversight of a facility beneath which an operational terrorist attack tunnel network operated.
- 3. Mohamed Ghorab: Explicitly celebrated the October 7th massacres as “blessed,” publicly praised a family-linked militant who served 22 years for a violent stabbing attack, and openly used his digital footprint to publish explicit calls to jihad.
Last week, Acting Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Christian Saunders, announced the immediate termination of 70 staff members in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA’s official statement expressly stated that the terminations were “not part of a disciplinary process” and that they are not intended as “a validation of the claims made against” the employees. Instead, the statement carefully framed the decision as a precautionary measure taken under its legal framework to mitigate “safety and security risks” for both its personnel and the refugees it serves.
The statement’s inherent contradiction was exposed when the UN spokesman was unable to explain why UNRWA would terminate 70 employees if the decision was neither punitive nor evidence-based. Instead, he said only that “the situation in UNRWA is rather complex and challenging,” and that the Commissioner-General sometimes must take “decisions that are not easy to take, but that are in the best interest of the Organization.”
It’s clear that UNRWA is engaging in damage control: removing terrorists from its staff lists while continuing to deny to donor states that it employed them in the first place.
Despite UNRWA’s measured language, Palestinian militant factions, local staff unions, and political committees immediately erupted in protest:
- The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which participated in the October 7th massacre, vowed that the firings “must not go unpunished.”
- The militant group “Ahrar Movement” condemned the action as “a clear capitulation to the pressures and political blackmail exerted by the Israeli occupation on international institutions operating in Palestine.”
- The Joint Committee for Palestinian Refugees, led by Mahmoud Khalaf—a close ally of Hamas Politburo member and former President of the UNRWA staff unions, Suhail al-Hindi—stated his “complete rejection of the decision to dismiss staff based on legally unsubstantiated accusations.”
- Suhail al-Hindi himself stated, “UNRWA’s decision to dismiss dozens of employees from Gaza is a stab in the back of Gaza and its resilience.”
- Mustafa al-Ghoul, the Hamas-affiliated current president of the UNRWA staff union in Gaza, complained that the “number of Arab employees in UNRWA in Gaza has decreased from about 13,000 to about 9,600 employees as a result of dismissals, martyrdom and resignations.”
- Rania Madi, senior advisor at Law for Palestine, stated that these are “serious and fabricated accusations directed at UNRWA to label it as supporting terrorism, simply because some of its employees express their support for the rights of their people, or because one of their family members has a connection to the Palestinian resistance…”
- The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement called it “submission to Zionist pressure” and “political blackmail.”
Collectively, these groups echo a core argument: UNRWA is unjustly punishing workers simply for expressing solidarity with the Palestinian cause or because of their family ties, in violation of the basic principle of “innocent until proven guilty.”
Yet the conduct that some of these employees themselves defend exposes a profound disconnect between local notions of “patriotism” and the neutrality required of UN personnel. Below, we profile the only three recently dismissed employees who have publicly acknowledged their firing and continue to claim innocence, despite openly championing conduct that is wholly incompatible with the principles the UN claims to uphold.
1. Mohammed M. Issa
On June 12, 2026, Mohammed M. Issa lamented on Facebook about being one of the 70 employees fired from UNRWA (archive link). Issa’s public defense was absolute:
“I categorically affirm that I do not belong to Hamas, have never belonged to it, and oppose it ideologically and politically. I also do not belong to any other organization. I will use all available legal means to challenge this decision.”
Issa’s recent digital footprint does show genuine frustration with Hamas, mostly driven by the well-documented anger of Palestinians with the Hamas leadership, who escaped to the Four Seasons in Doha, Qatar while leaving their population to suffer the consequences of its actions. In November 2024, Issa vented his frustration via a joke on Facebook about what the leader of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, was having for dinner:
Yet the question of whether Issa is formally affiliated with Hamas is ultimately beside the point. His claim to neutrality completely disintegrates upon review of his extensive social media history.
Exhibit 1: Public Support for Hamas Commanders
- Shared a post (archive link) celebrating Raed Al-Attar (Abu Ayman) and Muhammad Abu Shamala (Abu Khalil). Raed Al-Attar served as the commander of the Rafah company for the Al-Qassam Brigades. Muhammad Abu Shamala was a leader of the Brigades, serving as the sub-commander of the southern Gaza Strip.
- Published a post (archive link) celebrating Emad Akel, the deceased commander of the Brigades.
Exhibit 2: Celebration of Terrorists and Suicide Bombers
- Published a post (archive link) supporting Umm Nidal Farhat, known as the “Mother of Martyrs” for her vocal backing of her sons’ suicide bombings. She later became a member of Hamas.
- Shared a post (archive link) eulogizing Hamas terrorist Mohammed Assi, who helped organize a bus bombing in Tel Aviv that wounded 29 civilians.
- Shared a post (archive link) celebrating Samer Issawi, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 2002 for executing shooting attacks targeting Israeli police cars and university students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
- Shared a post (archive link) celebrating Abdul Basit Odeh, the Qassam Brigades operative who carried out the horrific Park Hotel suicide bombing in Netanya, killing 30 people during a Passover seder.
Exhibit 3: Calls for the Abduction of Israelis
- Published a post (archive link) explicitly demanding that the “resistance” capture more Israeli soldiers to force future prisoner leverage exchanges.
- Published a post (archive link) calling for “a new Gilad,” referencing Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was captured and held hostage in Gaza for five years.
Exhibit 4: Incitement and Militant Alignment
Mohammed Issa shared an explicit image of an active combatant paired with the phrase “glory to the resistance.” (archive link)
Mohammed has also “dreamt that a missile launched at Tel Aviv accidentally hit a Zionist F-16 fighter jet in the skies over the Gaza Strip.” He adds, “It’s difficult, almost impossible, but worth the wait and the dream…” (Archive Link)
Exhibit 5: Armed Radicalization of Infants
Issa repeatedly shared deeply unsettling, militant propaganda photos portraying infants holding real automatic weapons. (archive link 1) (archive link 2)
2. Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh (Abu Firas)
On June 11, 2026, a screenshot of a text message sent by Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh confirming his administrative removal was posted (archive link) on Facebook. The text states:
“Praise be to God, before and after. A short while ago, I received the dismissal letter from the Agency [UNRWA]… on the charge of working in an armed organization.”
An organizational comment left on the post directly illuminates the structural footprint Shuwaideh maintained inside UNRWA operations:
”Of course, Abu Fares is the one who has been managing all the agency’s work since the beginning of the war in Gaza, and everyone testifies to him.”
Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh has been tracked by UN Watch for at least two years. In September 2025, he featured heavily within UN Watch’s published investigative report, “Schools in the Grip of Terror,” and was formally included in the comprehensive tracking network, “UNRWA Terror Network.”
Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh (aka “Abu Fares”) operated administratively as an UNRWA school principal at the UNRWA Zeitoun Prep A Boys School. He has held active membership within the UNRWA Gaza Staff Union executive circles since at least 2015. In that capacity, he has publicly defended internal union strikes that crippled vital community services against complaints by UNRWA aid recipients. In May 2020, current union president Mustafa Al-Ghoul published an image of the two together, introducing Shuwaideh as the acting Union Secretary while warmly calling him “brother.”
Shuwaideh has also publicly opposed UNRWA’s attempts to scrub violent or biased entries from classroom material. He strongly rejected the sanitization of specific religious texts referencing “jihad” and fought to retain instructional maps depicting sovereign Israeli cities (such as Haifa) entirely as Palestinian domain. He further demanded that UNRWA implement local educational tracking curricula “without any interference,” asserting that basic institutional neutrality criteria represented an explicit attack on foundational “national and Islamic values across both Gaza and the West Bank.”
Crucially, Shuwaideh is among twelve UNRWA educators formally and publicly identified by state officials in July 2024 as active militant operatives—explicitly holding a post as a Hamas Squad Commander assigned within the Gaza Brigades organization.
Furthermore, architectural tracking as early as 2021 disclosed that an active Hamas military underground tunnel was built directly beneath the school facility Shuwaideh managed. Despite generic public denunciations from agency headquarters concerning subterranean violations, the tunnel system was confirmed to be fully functional when military forces operated throughout the sector in 2023.
Despite these structural ties, UNRWA kept him on the payroll. On July 20, 2024, Shuwaideh uploaded an image of himself wearing a UN operational vest. Later, On October 19, 2024, Shuwaideh posted a photo of himself working at a computer while wearing an official agency-issued UNRWA sweatshirt.
UNRWA finally suspended Shuwaideh on or about April 27, 2025—just 24-hours before the Israeli Foreign Ministry highlighted his documented Hamas alignment during a high-profile press conference detailing deep structural ties between the aid agency and terror networks. The timing suggests the suspension was a damage-control measure, as UNRWA had been provided detailed evidence about Shuwaideh ten months earlier yet failed to take any administrative action.
Shuwaideh hails from an influential, highly integrated Hamas family network. He shares direct family ties with Ahmed Shuwaideh, the former Hamas Minister of Justice and Prisoners under Ismail Haniyeh. Following his death in 2008, Ahmed was publicly eulogized by Haniyeh as “a towering role model… and a man of steadfastness and jihad.” On his personal channels, Mohammad Shuwaideh directly validated this legacy, characterizing the Hamas leader as “a man loved by all.”
3. Mohamed Ghorab
On June 14, an online public Facebook statement (archive link) confirmed that Habib Muhammad Garab (Mohamed Ghorab) was officially among the 70 dismissed UNRWA employees. He is characterized as a “beloved teacher, well-known in the Shati refugee camp.” Notably, this educator never attempted to maintain an appearance of neutrality. Records show that he openly described his marriage into the family of a convicted militant.
Exhibit 1: Celebration of a Convicted Family Militant
On his public profile, Ghorab directly hailed the high-profile release of militant “hero” Iyad Mahmoud Abu Hashim from Israeli prison. Abu Hashim had finished a 22-year sentence handed down after he attempted a stabbing attack targeting an IDF soldier at the Rafah border crossing. Ghorab explicitly stated, “Congratulations to my in-laws, Al Abu Hashim,” clarifying the direct family connection. (Archive link)
Exhibit 2: Support for the October 7th Atrocities
On October 10th, just three days after the Hamas massacres across southern Israel, Mohamed Ghorab went online to explicitly endorse them: (archive link)
“The number of martyrs is far lower than the death tolls from earthquakes and hurricanes; the end is the same, but blessed are those who die as martyrs…”
Exhibit 3: Explicit Incitement to Holy Warfare
Ghorab explicitly validated militant radicalism, stating: “The glory of Jihad is a struggle, glory is lined with blood and a struggle.” (archive link)
Conclusion: A Distorted Standard of Righteousness
The fierce political pushback from Palestinian leaders portrays UNRWA as overstepping its mandate, policing thought, and acting without due process. Yet the cases of Mohammed M. Issa, Mohamed Ghorab, and Mohammad Juma Shuwaideh point to a deeper problem: a profoundly distorted understanding of what constitutes acceptable conduct for an international humanitarian worker.
In any UN agency, publicly celebrating the massacre of civilians, glorifying weapons in the hands of children, or praising masked militants would be clear grounds for dismissal. By quietly terminating these 70 employees under the rubric of “safety and security,” UNRWA may have avoided a contentious debate over formal Hamas membership. But as the evidence presented here demonstrates, the violation of basic standards of neutrality and professionalism was already evident in plain sight.
These 70 dismissals, however, appear to represent only a fraction of the broader problem. Underscoring the scale of concern, the USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG) has expanded its review to as many as 1,500 additional current and former UNRWA employees suspected of ties to terrorist organizations.
The OIG has already referred more than 100 terror-linked current and former UNRWA personnel for suspension and debarment, a measure designed to prevent individuals with suspected terrorist affiliations from moving into other international aid organizations or UN agencies.
While UNRWA continues to avoid public transparency regarding the extent of the problem, the growing number of external investigations makes one thing clear: concerns about terrorist infiltration within the agency are no longer based on isolated allegations. They have become the subject of sustained scrutiny by governments and oversight bodies, raising serious questions that donors can no longer afford to ignore.
