Today we expose the lies.
For months, UNRWA staff, mostly Palestinian teachers, mostly women, have been unlawfully deprived of their salaries after having fled the brutal genocide in Gaza.
But today, after we obtained and verified the UNDSS communiqué, we publish proof that the United Nations itself encouraged UN Palestinian staff to leave Gaza to a third country.
On 12 October 2023, the USG UNDSS (Department of Safety and Security) issued a binding UN communique to all UN staff in Gaza:
“UNSMS organizations will support, to the extent feasible, locally recruited personnel, who hold relevant documentation, to travel to a third country.”
The following day, 13 October at 03:27 hrs, the Designated Official sent a message to local staff:
“All staff to move with their own transportation south of Wadi Gaza, move to friends or family if you can or continue to KYTC; take supplies with you for several days.”
The UNRWA staff obeyed. They fled under bombardment, paying thousands in “coordination fees” up to USD 45,000 to cross Rafah, and continued working remotely from Egypt.
And yet, for following these very instructions, UNRWA cut off their salaries.
This is an unlawful inversion of authority: one UN hand ordering evacuation, the other punishing compliance. A betrayal of staff, a breach of duty of care, and a stain on the Organization’s legitimacy.
Read my full open letter to the Secretary-General below
I invite colleagues, journalists, and all who stand for justice to read, share, and expose this truth and demand accountability from the Commissioner-General of UNRWA.
