Did UNRWA Mourn Death of Sinwar?

NOTE: This article was amended on 22nd October 2024.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been controversial for many years.

Back in 2018 the United States withdrew funding from the organisation, stating that its "business model and fiscal practices" made it an "irredeemably flawed operation." The "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries is simply unsustainable and has been in crisis mode for many years."

Much criticism has been levelled at UNRWA’s education programme due to antisemitic content. But despite multiple reviews, that problem has never been resolved.

And during Israel’s war with Hamas, the agency has come under more criticism for the scale of its support for Hamas - with some of its employees even taking part in the 7th October massacre in the south of Israel.

Now some have claimed the extent of its support has become clearer, having spotted the agency’s modified logo on social media, which includes a black stripe - thought to have been linked to the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

In this edition of CBN’s Jerusalem Dateline programme, Middle East analyst John Waage joins Chris Mitchell to discuss the various responses to Sinwar’s death and the increasing controversy over UNRWA’s support for Hamas.

However, UNRWA have published an explanation, saying that the black stripe was added back in October 2023 when the death toll of UNRWA members reached 20.

And others have confirmed that to be the case using archiving tools.

We apologise for not checking this in our original article.