The United Nations human rights group has confirmed that a Lebanese Hamas leader recently killed in an Israeli attack was an employee of its organization.
Fateh Sherif was killed along with his wife and children in an airstrike on Albas refugee camp in the southern Lebanese city of Tire on Monday.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said Sherif had been suspended from the agency since March, but had not been fired.
“Mr Fateh Al Sharif is a UNRWA employee who was placed on unpaid leave in March and was under investigation following allegations received by UNRWA regarding his political activities,” a UNRWA spokesperson said. said in a statement to FOX News Digital.
At the time, his suspension sparked widespread protests and strikes by teachers in Lebanon.
A woman reads the Quran at the scene of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday, September 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) said, “Mr. Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas terrorist activities and Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon. He was also responsible for efforts to acquire weapons and weapons.” Joint statement.
“He led the Hamas terrorist organization's troop build-up in Lebanon and worked to advance Hamas' interests in Lebanon both politically and militarily.''
Israeli airstrike kills Hamas commander in Lebanon
Israel claims UNRWA is filled with terrorist sympathizers, a claim the agency denies.
Mr. Sherif was the principal of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin Secondary School in Arbas and the president of the UNRWA Teachers' Union, which has about 2,000 teachers.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told FOX News Digital: “Through that position and as principal of a large UNRWA school, he recruited operatives and brainwashed generations of Palestinians. “We were able to get them to participate in the terrorist attack.”
Neuer and his organization have long pressed UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini to remove Sherif, saying they had provided them with documents proving his involvement with Hamas.
“Everyone at UNRWA knew. Yet they did not take action,” Neuer said.
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Women pass damaged vehicles after Israeli airstrikes hit buildings in Beirut early Monday morning. (AP/Hussein Mara)
“Despite the principal al-Sharif openly inciting terrorism on social media for more than a decade, UNRWA did nothing. They did not fire the principal for being a Hamas terrorist mastermind. For the first time this year, there was intense scrutiny of the school, UNRWA, who finally slapped him on the wrist, claiming they had been conducting an 'investigation' for months. I wonder if he was suspended from his job.”
The security officer's killing came as another terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, announced that three of its leaders had been killed in an airstrike on the upper floors of a Beirut apartment building, Reuters reported.
Israeli officials said on Monday that they would “continue operations against those who pose a threat to civilians in the State of Israel.”
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the village of Taybeh, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun on Monday, September 23. (AP/Hussein Mara)
Israel has escalated its attacks on Iranian-backed militants in the region in recent days, and over the weekend Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was also killed in an airstrike.
The Israel Defense Forces are focusing on full-scale ground attacks, but have launched small-scale special forces operations in southern Lebanon.
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Israel's airstrike on central Beirut was the first in the center of the capital since 2006 in an escalation of bombing that local officials say has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, according to reports.
Iran has vowed that Israel's “criminal acts” will not be ignored, while President Biden has insisted that full-scale war in the Middle East “must be avoided.”
