Key points
- They have been treated in the most shocking and inhumane way: UNRWA chief
- Aid workers reported being beaten and used as human shields
- “I wished for death”, a UNRWA staff member was quoted as saying
ISLAMABAD: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, on Tuesday 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.
“They have been treated in the most shocking & inhumane way. They reported being beaten + used as human shields.”
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.
“I wished for death to end the nightmare I was living through”.
Received this awful testimony from a colleague who was rounded up in #Gaza tortured while in Israeli detention and finally released.
For @UNRWA staff humanitarian duty is met with brutality.
Since the start of…— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 29, 2025
“Received this awful testimony from a colleague who was rounded up in Gaza, tortured while in Israeli detention and finally released,” they added
“Attacks by dogs”
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.”
Israel has banned UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil, after accusing some of its staff of taking part in Hamas’ October 7, 2023, according to AFP.
Independent investigations say it has not provided evidence for its allegation.
ICJ hearing
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.
In March las year, the United Nations expert on torture said she was investigating allegations of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees in Israel, and was in talks to visit the country.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Dr Alice Jill Edwards said she had recently received allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinians being detained in the Israeli-occupied West Bank or as a result of the conflict in Gaza, where Israel is fighting the ruling Palestinian Hamas movement.
