The United Nations has said that nine staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) may have been involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and they will be fired, Reuters reports.

“For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the seventh of October attacks,” Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

He was referring to findings of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, which he said had completed its investigation into the alleged involvement of 19 UNRWA staff members in the attacks.

“OIOS made findings in relation to each of the 19 UNRWA staff members alleged to have been involved in the attacks,” he said.

“In one case, no evidence was obtained by OIOS to support the allegations of the staff member’s involvement, while in nine other cases, the evidence obtained by OIOS was insufficient to support the staff member’s involvement,” he said.

Haq said all the nine individuals who the investigation concluded may have been involved were men. He did not give details of what they may have done, but said: “For us, any participation in the attacks is a tremendous betrayal of the sort of work that we are supposed to be doing on behalf of the Palestinian people.”