Lebanon Hamas leader Fateh Sherif was employed by UNRWA, agency confirms

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency confirmed that now-deceased Lebanon Hamas leader, Fateh Sherif, who was killed in an airstrike last month, was employed by the UNRWA. Sherif was reportedly the principal of UNRWA's Deir Yassin Secondary School in al-Bass. The relief agency, which is committed to aiding Palestinian refugees, has been the subject of controversy since it was disclosed that numerous staff members collaborated with Hamas to execute the Oct. 7 massacre on Israel.

The UNRWA told the Times of Israel that Sherif had been suspended in March following an investigation into his political activities, a decision that sparked widespread protests in Lebanon.

"Fateh Al Sherif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March, and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities," the agency said in a statement.

In March, UNRWA told Reuters that Sherif's activities violated "the Agency's regulatory framework governing staff conduct."

Sherif was killed along with his wife and children during a Sept. 30 airstrike on the al-Bass refugee camp in the city of Tyre, located in southern Lebanon.

The United Nations has come under fire for its employees' involvement with Hamas and the Oct. 7 massacre. The agency announced in August the terminations of nine UNWRA employees who were allegedly involved in the Palestinian terror attacks following an investigation into the matter. 

Most recently, a UNRWA teacher's identification passport was allegedly found on the body of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 atrocities who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) last week, according to photos shared by the New York Post. The UNRWA has since rejected the evidence.