| AMMAN, 1 December 2023
“UNRWA has been following the traction of a post by an Israeli journalist on the social media platform X. The post claims that there is an alleged connection between an Israeli hostage held in Gaza and an UNRWA school teacher. The journalist did not provide more information on this claim. “UNRWA and other entities in the United Nations have asked the journalist to provide more information on what we consider to be a very serious allegation. Despite repeated demands, the journalist has not responded. “UNRWA requests that the journalist provides an immediate clarification of the claims, and that whoever may be able to assist us in determining the facts comes forward. “In the absence of credible information to support this claim, UNRWA requests that the journalist immediately deletes the post. Making serious allegations in the public domain, unsupported by any evidence or verifiable facts in support thereof may amount to misinformation. “UNRWA reiterates that it takes all allegations of breach of UN principles extremely seriously and immediately investigates them. We are hence determined to find out whether the information in question is genuine or false. “UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organization in the Gaza Strip and is currently hosting more than 1 million people in its shelters. Defamation attacks and the spread of misinformation about UNRWA -from any side- directly endanger the lifesaving operations of the Agency and its staff operating on the ground. “These harmful and presumably gratuitous acts must stop, immediately.”
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Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Gaza Strip, Hostages, Media/Journalists, Public information
Publication Date: 01/12/2023