A solemn candle-lighting ceremony honoring United Nations employees who died in 2025 while working for the world body has sparked criticism after it unwittingly named an employee who was later revealed to be a Hamas commander.
At the annual memorial service in June honoring 136 employees who died in service to the U.N. in 2025, Secretary-General António Guterres, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, and then-Security Council President Leonor Zalabata Torres helped light a candle representing "an eternal flame." An official later about 200 cases that senior fellow at UN Watch Salo Aizenberg told Fox News Digital he has cataloged in which terror groups shared posthumous proof that journalists, NGO personnel, aid workers, lawyers and medical personnel were part of their organizations. Citing the Institute for Palestine Studies, which says its infiltration by Hamas.
The USAID Office of Inspector General is currently investigating 1,500 UNRWA employees for possible ties to Hamas. Thus far, the USAID OIG has referred 108 UNRWA staff to the State Department, requesting they be suspended or barred from further cooperation with organizations that receive U.S. funding.
A senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that "USAID OIG’s independent and ongoing investigation is revealing the pervasive extent to which UNRWA has aided and abetted Hamas. The investigation demonstrates that UNRWA hired droves of Hamas-linked terrorists and turned over their infrastructure to the terrorist group."
The official stated, "This can never happen again, and other U.N. agencies would be wise to study the USAID OIG’s ongoing work to understand how to avoid a repeat."