Hamas leader in Lebanon ‘worked undercover as a teacher for UN refugee agency’ before he was wiped out in Israeli airstrike

The leader of Hamas in Lebanon worked for a UN refugee agency before he was killed in an Israeli strike, it has been revealed.

Fateh Sherif Abu al-Amin died in the Al-Buss refugee camp in Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre in an attack by Israel’s air force yesterday.

The group said al-Amin was killed with his wife, son and daughter in what it called a ‘terrorist and criminal assassination’.

But the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, confirmed today that Sherif was employed as a teacher, prompting Israel to levy fresh accusations that it is tied to Palestinian militant groups.

UNRWA said it had put the Hamas commander on ‘administrative leave without pay’ in March as it investigated allegations about his political activities, insisting it was committed to neutrality and works to prevent any such infiltration.

It comes after the UNRWA admitted in August that nine of its employees ‘may have been involved’ in the October 7 Hamas attack.

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on a village near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29, 2024

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on villages near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on September 29, 2024

In a statement confirming his death, the IDF said Sherif ‘led the Hamas terrorist organisation’s force build-up efforts in Lebanon and operated to advance Hamas’ interests in Lebanon, both politically and militarily’.

However, he was also cited as the principal of the UNRWA’s Deir Yassin school and head of a prominent teacher’s union before he was suspended in March.

His role as a teacher in a UN school is sure to lead to yet more criticism of the UNRWA by Israel, which had some of its funding withdrawn from Israel’s allies after Tel Aviv claimed UNRWA employees were involved in Hamas October 7 attacks.

In August, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) 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.

He added: ‘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.

‘We have sufficient information in order to take the actions that we’re taking – which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals.’

The UN admitted that nine employees of its from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) ‘may have been involved’ in the October 7 Hamas attack

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said: ‘We have sufficient information in order to take the actions that we’re taking – which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals’

The United Nations launched the investigation after Israel charged that a dozen UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks which triggered the Gaza war

All the nine individuals who the investigation concluded may have had a hand in the October 7 attacks were men.

The UN spokesperson 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.’

The United Nations launched the investigation after Israel charged that UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks which triggered the Gaza war.

Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying over 450 UNRWA staff were military operatives in Gaza terrorist groups. 

UNRWA employs some 32,000 people across its area of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza.

UNWRA said in March that some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities and that staff took part in the October 7 attacks.