The explosive allegations plunged the United Nations into disaster, main the United States — the company’s largest donor — and different nations to droop funding for the aid company and threatening to collapse its operations in Gaza and the broader Middle East.
The footage of the individual Israel recognized as Naami can be the primary to floor publicly of any of the accused people collaborating within the assault. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant launched a screenshot from the video at a information convention Friday as a part of a file that publicly recognized the accused aid employees. “UNRWA has lost legitimacy and can no longer function as a U.N. body,” Gallant said.
The CCTV footage, situated independently by The Washington Post, supplies a fuller image than the transient account within the public file, which says Naami “was involved in kidnapping a soldier from Beeri.” Israel has additionally accused Naami of being a part of a Hamas brigade in his hometown of Nuseirat.
After he was named in confidential Israeli paperwork final month, The Post discovered photos of Naami on-line after which used facial recognition software program to discover a possible match for him in footage from Oct. 7. The Post discovered different indications pointing to Naami as the person within the footage. A Nissan Terrano II within the footage seems per the identical make and mannequin of automotive that Naami is pictured with in social media posts, together with broken trim on a rear window.
Before Friday’s information convention, a safety official advised The Post that Israeli authorities had recognized the person within the footage as Naami. The footage is among the many proof Israel used as the idea for its allegation towards Naami, said the official, talking on the situation of anonymity to talk about delicate info.
In the footage from Oct. 7, the SUV drives towards an open gate to Kibbutz Beeri shortly after 9:30 a.m. and stops simply inside the doorway, the place three males who had been shot and dragged from a automotive are mendacity immobile on the bottom.
Two males step out of the SUV. The driver, the person recognized as Naami, is carrying glasses that match pictures from his social media profiles. The different man is carrying a rifle. They open the rear door of the automobile and unfold out a blanket inside.
They method one of many individuals who had been shot, a person on the road subsequent to an overturned cooler. It is not clear if he is alive, however he doesn’t react as the person recognized as Naami takes him by the jacket, the opposite man lifts his legs and so they carry him to the trunk and place him inside.
They then rummage via belongings which can be strewn on the street, taking a cellphone and a hat earlier than driving off lower than three minutes after they arrived. It is not clear why or the place the 2 males took the Israeli or why they left the opposite our bodies.
At The Post’s request, two automobile forensic specialists analyzed Naami’s social media pictures capturing partial views of a white automobile. They recognized the automotive as a 1993-1995 Nissan Terrano II, and said the automobile seen within the Oct. 7 footage matched that very same colour, make and mannequin and was from the identical era.
Marcus Mazza, a automobile engineering professional for Robson Forensic, a agency that gives technical experience in courtroom circumstances, said the separated trim additionally “may indicate that these are the same vehicle.”
On Oct. 16, Naami, 5 of his kids and certainly one of his two wives had been killed in a strike on their house in Nuseirat, in accordance to a UNRWA colleague who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of company employees have been advised not to converse to the media. His title, the title of a girl who seems to be his spouse and the names of his kids seem on the Gaza Health Ministry’s record of these killed in Israeli assaults.
The Israel Defense Forces advised The Post it “is unaware of a strike at the specified area or time.” A spokesperson, talking on the situation of anonymity per the company’s protocol, didn’t reply when requested if Naami had been focused.
Efforts to attain surviving members of Naami’s household had been unsuccessful. Naami was a social worker on the U.N. company, in accordance to the colleague and the Israeli file.
“His personality was calm, he was very cheerful, he was friendly, he was loved by everyone, colleagues, clients and beneficiaries,” the colleague advised The Post.
The colleague said they didn’t know if Naami was concerned within the assault or a member of Hamas. Shown a photograph of Naami taken from the Oct. 7 footage, the colleague said they didn’t know if it was him “as his features are not clear.”
Israeli officers have lengthy complained that the U.N. company was carefully aligned with Hamas, accusations that UNRWA has rejected.
The U.N. company was established in 1949 to assist Palestinians who had been expelled or compelled from their houses in the course of the founding of Israel. In the many years since, the company has taken on many capabilities of a state for stateless Palestinians, resembling offering meals, well being care and faculties. Refugee camps within the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria have was everlasting city slums.
The allegations that assist employees had been members of the group have threatened the existence of the first conduit for assist to Gaza’s 2.2 million individuals whose lives have been upended after practically 4 months of struggle. At least 28,775 individuals have been killed and 68,552 injured in Gaza because the struggle started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Since Oct. 7, UNRWA’s faculties and medical clinics the company operates have been closed and was shelters that now home greater than 1 million individuals. Palestinians in Gaza are nearly completely dependent on UNRWA for the requirements of life as famine looms and ailments unfold alongside steady Israeli floor and air assaults.
On Friday, Gallant said that as well as to the 12 employees, Israel has intelligence indicating that over 30 UNRWA employees participated within the bloodbath, together with the taking of hostages. He said that 12 % of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees are affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller Islamist group within the Gaza Strip.
The company denies that it has turned a blind eye to Hamas and says that Israeli authorities have lengthy sought to dismantle UNRWA.
Last week, the Israeli military uncovered what it said was a subterranean Hamas server complicated, dug 65 ft beneath UNRWA headquarters in Gaza. On Tuesday evening, the Israeli military launched a video of a tunnel beneath Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, that it said was the hideout of Hamas chief Yehiya Sinwar. UNRWA packages had been among the many underground provides.
In response to the allegations final month, UNRWA launched a assessment and, earlier than investigating the allegations, fired 10 of the accused staff; two others had been useless. The United States and different nations have indicated they might restore funding after the discharge of the assessment.
UNRWA spokeswoman Tamara Alrifai said a person matching Naami’s title joined the company as social worker in 2006. But she said she couldn’t remark on the continuing investigation or confirm if he was current within the footage shared by The Post.
UNRWA had “not [been] presented with any evidence from the Israeli authorities,” she said, including. “UNRWA only received from the Israeli government the list of names of alleged staff reportedly involved in the horrible 7/10 attacks.”
Souad Mekhennet in Washington, Evan Hill in New York and Shira Rubin in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
