JERUSALEM – Pressure has been mounting in recent weeks on UNRWA, the United Nations agency tasked with aiding Palestinian refugees, over its failure to condemn armed terror groups in the Gaza Strip that have openly used its internationally funded facilities, including health clinics, schools and even its main headquarters, to conduct a brutal war against Israel. 

This week, Israeli lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill that would cut ties with the controversial U.N. agency and declare it a terrorist entity. Speaking in the Knesset last week, Yulia Malinovsky, the bill’s sponsor, called UNRWA “a fifth column within the State of Israel” and said it was high time that the agency was outlawed in the country. 

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Congress’ House Foreign Affairs Committee also passed initial legislation that would build on an already existing funding freeze of the multimillion-dollar organization and direct the State Department to recover previously donated monies.

“The U.S. has sufficient evidence at this point to impose terrorism sanctions on UNRWA,” Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Washington, D.C., think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. 

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Goldberg, a former Trump National Security Council staff member, said the controversial organization “must be disqualified from any future role in Gaza,” pointing out that “UNRWA’s existence – to incite violence and hate toward Jews and Israel – is inherently antithetical to the goal of de-radicalizing Palestinian society and moving Palestinians to self-sufficiency.”

“If you keep UNRWA around for what comes next in Gaza, you are condemning both Palestinians and Israelis to a future of violence and instability,” he said.

The pushback against UNRWA, which according to its website carries out critical life-saving work for some 5.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, comes after Israel provided evidence that UNRWA employees actively participated in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks in southern Israel. More than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered in the surprise attack, and a further 240, including a 9-month-old infant, were taken hostage back to Gaza. 

UNRWA HQ in Gaza. Hamas terrorists attack kibbutz in Israel and woman kidapped by terrorists on Oct 7. (Getty, Israel Defense Forces via AP | Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images | Hamas-Telegram)

In February, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Fox News Digital that “dozens” of UNRWA employees took part in the shocking attack and, following the release of more than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, during a cease-fire deal last November, it has been revealed that some were held captive by teachers and medical staff employed by the agency.

Israel has long accused UNRWA, short for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, of perpetuating the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It points out that Palestinian refugees are the only group afforded their own separate aid agency, while refugees from almost every other global conflict – past and present – are cared for under the broader umbrella of the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees. It further notes that UNRWA, established in 1949 to provide services for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced when Israel was created, continues to recognize the descendants of those refugees regardless of where they were born or their current status – rather than attempting to settle them as other refugee agencies do.  

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UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini (Getty Images)

According to UNRWA’s website, its pledged budget for 2023 was $1.46 billion, with the U.S. Germany, EU and France as its biggest donors, but after Israel presented evidence that employees participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, the U.S., along with 17 other countries decided to pause funding. 

In March, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, Congress moved to extend the funding freeze through March 2025, even as most of the other countries decided to resume their support. Last week, under the newly installed Labor government, the U.K. said it would soon “release £21 million [$21.2 m] to support [UNRWA’s] lifesaving work in Gaza.”

IDF soldiers are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Office)

The resumption of funds comes even as the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues to investigate Israel’s claims against UNRWA employees, according to an April announcement; and even as the Israeli military reports almost daily of its battles with armed terror groups in and around UNRWA-owned complexes, including buildings where Gaza civilians are sheltering. 

Additionally, while UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philipe Lazzarini has been quick to condemn the fighting in his organization’s facilities – as well as the deaths of civilians, which the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says stands at some 38,000 – he has failed to call out Hamas, and other terror factions, for purposely drawing the fighting to its centers. 

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern city of Rafah on May 9. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Juliette Touma, director of communications for UNRWA, told Fox News Digital that the organization had “condemned all parties to the conflict over the misuse of UNRWA facilities, including Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.”

“We have made such comments repeatedly in our public statements, speeches, remarks and media interviews, including at the level of the Commissioner General,” she said. 

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“We have also reminded all parties to the conflict that U.N. facilities must never be used for military or fighting purposes,” said Touma, adding that UNRWA had “called for investigations and independent inquiries of all violations of international humanitarian law.”

However, the condemnations appear not to have been forceful enough.

The legislation that passed its first reading in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Monday, drew the support of lawmakers from across the political spectrum. If passed into law, UNRWA would be prevented from operating inside Israeli territory and its personnel stripped of diplomatic privileges afforded to other U.N. staff. 

U.N. vehicle enters the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem. April 2, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS)

UNRWA is also facing heat in Congress, with some members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee steadfast on maintaining the prohibition against funding – and now even seeking to rescind U.S. monies previously transferred to the agency. 

On July 12, the committee voted on a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., directing the secretary of state to recover any federal funds already distributed to UNRWA. Passing in the committee, 24-22, Mast posted a lengthy video on X accusing those who voted against it of “willfully ignoring anything that doesn’t fit into their narrative that Palestinians are victims in this war – that is what they want to put forward – instead of [recognizing that] they started this war, they started a genocide, and now this war is what’s taking place.”

He criticized Democrats who claim that “UNRWA was doing God’s work,” noting that individuals educated in schools run by the agency were “indoctrinated… with hate for the Jews.” 

“For way too long, UNRWA has masqueraded as a relief organization, while in reality serving as an incubator for Palestinian terrorists,” he said, adding, “Intelligence reports indicate that as many as ten percent of UNRWA workers have direct links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists. It’s ludicrous that our hard-earned American tax dollars were going to fund this crap. The State Department needs to do everything it can to recoup this money.”

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that denying American funds for UNRWA made sense for Americans “because UNRWA is a body that fuels the hatred of Jews and the violence that results from that gross intolerance.” 

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“This isn’t conjecture. It’s undeniable fact,” she said, pointing out that “UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 atrocities, sizable numbers of UNRWA employees are members of Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations and UNRWA facilities have been used as Hamas command and control centers and as weapons storage depots.” 

“It makes sense for Americans to deny funds to UNRWA because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “Terrorism, rape, and antisemitism – not on our dime!”

Thousands of Ukrainian convicts have been freed from jail to bolster the war effort and fight against Russia on the battlefield during the ongoing conflict. 

They were given the option of trading jail time for time fighting on the frontlines. It means that some 3,000 prisoners were released thanks to a new law aimed at boosting Kyiv’s fighting power. 

That’s a significant figure, given that Ukraine’s prison population is around 42,000 in total. 

The new recruitment law was approved by parliament in a mobilisation bill that took effect in June – and military leaders think the move can only be a good thing. 

Over 30,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed during two and a half years of war and others are keen to continue the effort on behalf of their fallen countrymen. 

“It’s no secret that in the third year of the war, there are not many motivated fighters among the new recruits. These [ex-prisoner] guys are mostly motivated,” a military instructor with the call sign ‘Chub’ explains. “Motivation gives them a chance to survive. For all these actions – for good defence, attack, assault,” he adds.

There’s other motivation for former prisoners too – like ‘Psycho’, a newly recruited military special forces soldier.

“The laws have changed a little bit – it’s good for us. We can be useful, clear our name, start a new life. Help those who need us at the front,” he says.

‘Psycho’ has been training for three days. He is from the Kegychiv community in the Kharkiv region. He was sentenced to six years for robbery but, in the end, served less than a year, deciding instead to go to the front.

Every ex-convict in the programme is treated in accordance with the Armed Forces’ charter and supervised by representatives of the Military Law Enforcement Service.

At a training ground in Kharkiv Oblast, an instructor is teaching recruits how to handle grenades. These future soldiers are part of the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade – a group formed almost entirely of former prisoners.

This model will be replicated across Ukraine in the weeks to come as the war rumbles on. 

After completing 40 days of training and coordination, all of the new recruits will join the rest of the battalion.

Prisoners not convicted of rape, sexual assault, murdering two or more people or crimes against Ukraine’s national security are eligible to participate.

“Very good guys are fighting there. I want to fight, that’s why I came here. Since 2014, I’ve been trying to get to this war, but I failed. I don’t see myself in civilian life. I’ve been looking for myself for a long time in my life and I think I found myself in the army,” a special forces soldier with the call sign ‘Snake’ enthuses. 

One Ukrainian deputy commander believes this new opportunity allows prisoners, many who had little hope for a better life, to actively shape their futures. 

“The people themselves – they want to change their lives for the better, so there is no need to take any radical measures at the moment. If they need treatment, they go for treatment, if they need examination, they go for examination,” the deputy commander says. “They are members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who have signed a contract. Therefore, they should be treated as military personnel.”