UN says over 50 Gaza aid workers faced abuse in Israeli detention

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said more than 50 of its staff in Gaza were abused. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, on Tuesday (April 29, 2025) said more than 50 of its staff in Gaza were abused and used as human shields while in Israeli military detention.

“Since the start of the war in October 2023, over 50 UNRWA staff, among them teachers, doctors, social workers, have been detained and abused,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.

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“They have been treated in the most shocking & inhumane way. They reported being beaten + used as human shields.”

Mr. Lazzarini cited the testimony of one of the staff members who had been detained by the Israeli military before being released.

“I wished for death to end this nightmare I was living through,” the staff member was quoted as saying. “Received this awful testimony from a colleague who was rounded up in Gaza, tortured while in Israeli detention and finally released,” they added

Mr. Lazzarini said those detained had been subjected to “sleep deprivation, humiliation, threats of harm to them & their families + attacks by dogs”.

“Many were subjected to forced confessions. This nothing short of harrowing & outrageous.”

The military had no immediate response to the accusation.

Israel has banned UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil, after accusing some of its staff of taking part in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war.

Independent investigations say it has not provided evidence for its allegation.

The International Court of Justice is currently hearing dozens of nations and organisations to draw up a so-called advisory opinion on Israel’s humanitarian obligations to Palestinians, more than 50 days into its total blockage on aid entering war-ravaged Gaza.

Israel is not participating at the ICJ but hit back immediately, dismissing the hearings as “part of the systematic persecution and delegitimisation” of the country.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday said the hearings were “part of a systematic persecution and delegitimisation of Israel”.

“It is not Israel that should be on trial. It is the UN and UNRWA,” he said.