Over 100 victims of the October 7th massacre filed a lawsuit on Monday in a New York federal court against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), alleging that its employees were responsible for Hamas atrocities including genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and rape. The lawsuit names six former and present UNRWA leaders, including Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini. “Hamas did not carry out these atrocities without assistance. It was aided and abetted by, among others, the above-named defendants who are current or former senior officials [at UNRWA] and UNRWA itself who collectively spent over a decade prior to the October 7 attack helping Hamas build up the terror infrastructure and personnel that were necessary to carry out the attack.” The lawsuit added that UNRWA was “warned repeatedly that their policies were providing assistance to Hamas. In the face of those warnings, defendants continued those very policies.” “The findings in this lawsuit demonstrate that UNRWA was aware of and actively participated in the diversion of funds earmarked to support the people of Gaza into channels that ensured those funds were used for terrorism and in violation of international law,” said Bijan Amini, one of the lead lawyers in the case. “UNRWA’s insistence that over a billion dollars in Gaza aid be distributed in U.S. cash that locals could not spend without going through Hamas moneychangers is one of the most damning pieces of new evidence presented in this case.” Instead of making aid payments in the local currency of Israeli shekels, UNRWA insisted on making aid payments in US dollars – a currency that the residents of Gaza could not use. This method was only used in Gaza, with aid to the Shomron, Jordan and other UN refugee programs provided in the local currency. Along with the cost and risk of transporting $20 million a month in cash to the Strip, this program required aid recipients to pay Hamas money changers 10-20% commissions to convert their dollars into shekels. “This payment scheme reduced the real value of aid to Gaza residents by $2-4 million per month and increased Hamas’s monthly revenue by that amount. Perhaps more significantly, it ensured a reliable supply of U.S. dollar currency into Hamas’s control each month, which was necessary to pay smugglers and arms dealers who do not accept shekels as payment,” the lawsuit stated. Two of the plaintiffs are Gadi and Reuma Kedem, whose daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren were murdered by Hamas. “There is no pain in the world that compares to burying your children and grandchildren who were murdered and suffocated in their own home,” said Gadi and Reuma Kadem in a statement. “All that is left is to fight to hold those responsible for strengthening Hamas to account. UNRWA strengthened Hamas and transferred funds and financed the murders, acting as a full partner in the growth of Hamas terrorists. UNRWA and its directors are fully complicit in the murder of my children and family.” Released hostage Ditza Heiman, 84, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz and held in Gaza by a UNWRA teacher. A father of ten, he held her alone in his mouse-infested attic and at times, brought her UNWRA rations. Heiman stated: “The fact that Hamas controlled Gaza was not an excuse for UNRWA to hire […]