By Solange Reyner | Thursday, 28 May 2026 02:32 PM EDT
Three former Trump administration officials disclosed that nearly 1,500 individuals affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) are suspected of terrorist ties under a federal investigation conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development inspector general’s office.
The proposed actions include revoking UNRWA’s diplomatic immunity under U.S. law, exposing the agency to lawsuits from terrorism victims, and formally designating it as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
Earlier this year, the Washington Free Beacon reported that UNRWA and other United Nations agencies have been uncooperative with the probe into alleged Hamas connections.
UNRWA operates across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria, providing aid, schooling, healthcare, social services, and shelter to millions of Palestinians. Top U.N. officials and the Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of humanitarian assistance in Gaza—a region devastated by a two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas.
However, the Trump administration has accused UNRWA of links with Hamas, allegations the agency has vigorously disputed. Washington was long UNRWA’s largest donor but halted funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff members of participating in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war. That assault killed more than 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
In October 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused UNRWA of becoming “a subsidiary of Hamas,” a group the United States designated as a terrorist organization in 1997.
Any broad sanctions against UNRWA could disrupt refugee aid operations and cripple the agency, which is already facing a funding crisis. Designating UNRWA as an FTO would be highly unusual because the United States is both a U.N. member and host country for the agency, established in 1949.
A State Department official familiar with the investigation told the Washington Free Beacon that USAID inspector general’s findings are “coming in droves” and corroborate what they described as an “obvious parent-subsidiary relationship” between UNRWA and Hamas in Gaza.
“If UNRWA were not a United Nations organization, it would undeniably face terrorist sanctions based on the USAID inspector general’s investigation,” the official stated.
The probe indicates that labeling UNRWA as an FTO is likely, with the source noting that if UNRWA “walks like an FTO, talks like an FTO and employs FTO personnel,” then a case exists to designate it as such.
Another official emphasized that UNRWA must face consequences for its alleged conduct leading up to October 7 and its “ongoing refusal to respond” to legitimate U.S. inquiries.
