Victims and relatives of people killed or injured in attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah have sued the United Nations agency dedicated to Palestinians, accusing it of aiding the armed groups and fueling terrorism.
The lawsuit suit was filed on Thursday in federal court in the District of Columbia by American citizens living in Israel and the United States and their family members. A similar case has been playing out since last year in federal court in Manhattan.
Both suits are attempting to hold the United Nations Relief and Work Agency, known as UNRWA, responsible in some measure for violent acts by Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, groups dedicated to the destruction of Israel that have been designated terrorist organizations by the United States. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages, both compensatory and punitive.
Israel has long maintained that UNRWA has been infiltrated by militants and is biased against Israel in the war in Gaza, an accusation U.N. officials have denied. The agency has been at the center of controversy during the conflict, which was set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In the New York case, lawyers for the U.N. agency have argued it is exempt from such suits because it has diplomatic immunity. The Biden administration supported that position, but in April, lawyers in President Trump’s Justice Department reversed the government’s stance, paving the way for the latest lawsuit.
Some analysts say the Justice Department’s new position could open the door not only to more civil cases seeking damages from the agency, but also to the Treasury Department’s imposing sanctions on it.
The complaint argues, among other things, that UNRWA has violated antiterrorism laws by providing direct and indirect support to Hamas and Hezbollah. It also accuses UNRWA U.S.A., a nonprofit organization that raises money for the agency, of helping with the effort by soliciting donations.
Representatives for UNRWA and UNRWA U.S.A. did not respond to requests for comment. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs also did not return emails and telephone calls.
In the past, UNRWA officials have consistently denied that the agency’s Gaza staff is full of Hamas operatives, though they have also said it is impossible to operate in Gaza without some engagement with Hamas, which has governed the enclave since 2007. Workers who have been accused of having ties to Hamas are investigated. UNRWA says it takes those accusations seriously.
Israel has accused some agency employees of participating in the 2023 attack, and nine workers were ultimately fired for possible involvement. The Israeli military has said that UNRWA fails to prevent Hamas from storing weapons in civilian settings or building tunnels under agency infrastructure in Gaza.
UNRWA is the only U.N. agency dedicated to a single group of refugees. Supporters see the agency as a force for stability in a volatile region until the Palestinian-refugee issue can be resolved through a peace deal.
But the plaintiffs contend that UNRWA cultivates anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment through its positions, policies, educational materials and other services — “rather than acting as a U.N. agency promoting peace, integration or stability.”
The suit alleges that UNRWA has allowed Hamas to infiltrate its schools, clinics and other institutions in Gaza and the West Bank. It also accuses the agency of maintaining ties with Hamas, facilitating its rise to power and allowing it to use civilian buildings for military purposes. It makes similar claims about the agency’s ties to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Those accusations are similar to ones made by Israeli leaders when the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, last year passed a bill banning UNRWA operations.
Among the plaintiffs are numerous victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Nurit Cooper, who was abducted by Hamas but released early in the war, is suing on behalf of herself and her husband, Amiram, who was killed in Gaza. Families of people slain at the Nova music festival have added their names to the suit, along with a man who saw his parents killed and was injured himself in the attacks.
Some of the plaintiffs are suing on behalf of victims of Hezbollah, the Lebanese group that fired thousands of rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas, igniting a conflict that ended with a cease-fire last November.
Others listed in the lawsuit are seeking compensation for attacks dating back about a decade. Among them is the family of Ari Fuld, who lived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was stabbed by a Palestinian teenager at a shopping center in 2018.
Mr. Fuld was a vocal pro-Israel activist and an acquaintance of Mike Huckabee, the current U.S. ambassador to Israel. One of his brothers, Eytan Fuld — who is named in the suit but declined to comment — is a spokesman for Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister.