The federal investigation into staff at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency—the U.N. Gaza relief organization that's been closely linked to Hamas—will soon encompass at least 1,500 UNRWA-linked individuals suspected of terror ties. This unprecedented dragnet—reported here for the first time by the Washington Free Beacon—exposes an aid group brimming with Hamas operatives, and is generating momentum in Congress and the Trump administration for harsher sanctions on the embattled aid group, according to congressional staffers briefed on the matter.
The punitive measures up for consideration include stripping UNRWA of its diplomatic immunity under U.S. law, which would open it up to legal action from terror victims, and fully designating the aid organization as a foreign terrorist organization, according to three Trump administration officials and other sources tracking the matter in Congress.
These discussions have accelerated since the Free Beacon first reported in April that UNRWA and other U.N. agencies are stonewalling a federal probe into their ties to Hamas. The U.S. Agency for International Development inspector general's office, a law enforcement agency separate from the largely defunct USAID, has spent months independently unearthing evidence that multiple UNRWA employees participated in Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack. The probe will soon expand to at least 1,500 suspected militants with UNRWA ties.
UNRWA, an official organ of the notoriously anti-Israel United Nations, is the only aid group with a large operation in Gaza, with as many as 13,000 Gazan employees and a large distribution network. U.N. officials have insisted for years that it is the only viable option for getting relief to Gazans. But Israel and its supporters have long claimed that UNRWA is fully infiltrated by Hamas and has cemented the terror group's control over aid distribution.
The USAID inspector general is currently working with the State Department in the latter's effort to build a blacklist that will ensure terror-linked UNRWA employees cannot circulate to other aid organizations within the U.N. system. The inspector general has already confirmed that one UNRWA school principal participated in the Oct. 7 attacks as a member of Hamas's East Jabaliya Battalion, and has flagged multiple others for the State Department.
"The USAID inspector general's cases, coming in droves, are corroborating the obvious parent-subsidiary relationship between UNRWA and Hamas in Gaza," a senior State Department official familiar with the investigation told the Free Beacon. "If UNRWA was not a U.N. organization, it'd be undeniably facing terrorist sanctions based on what USAID IG has uncovered." That ongoing USAID inspector general investigation, the source said, would logically lead to labeling UNRWA as a foreign terrorist group. If the probe "confirms that if it walks like an FTO and talks like an FTO and employs FTO personnel, a case exists that it should be an FTO."
A second U.S. official said the Trump administration must consider a "whole-of-world approach" to UNRWA that includes further executive action and policies that would strip the aid group's diplomatic immunity. If UNRWA could be sued in the American courts, the agency could very well collapse under the strain of defending itself from a torrent of Oct. 7-related complaints.
"There is a lot here we can do," said the official, who would speak only anonymously due to the sensitivity of the ongoing discussions. "There has to be consequences for UNRWA—for its conduct in the run-up to and role in October 7, and continuing all the way to today with its ongoing refusal to adhere to legitimate and pressing American inquiries."
While the Trump administration stripped virtually all remaining American funding to UNRWA in February, citing its established links to Hamas, the agency still enjoys diplomatic immunity, can access some funds from the larger U.N. budget, and has facilitated Hamas's continued control over aid distribution in Gaza.
"Without immunities," the source explained, "there is a potential exposure to an FTO designation and massive lawsuits, which would then be for the courts to adjudicate." Additionally, UNRWA funding remains "a line item in the U.N. budget, and there's still American taxpayer dollars going towards that, and that's unacceptable."
A third U.S. official confirmed that appetite for such action has been building since it became clear that UNRWA and other U.N. organizations were not cooperating with the USAID inspector general's probe.
The USAID inspector general sent letters to six separate U.N. agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross in December 2025, asking them to name all employees "who worked on U.S.-government funded awards" and provide their contact information and "date and place of birth." The office also asked the agencies to detail their "interactions with Hamas," among other requests. "None of the responding U.N. recipients provided the requested information pertaining to their personnel," the inspector general disclosed last month.
"Given its history with Hamas, UNRWA does not have the luxury of not cooperating with an investigation and thinking there might not be consequences," said the third U.S. official. "We will respond accordingly."
Elements of these discussions have spilled into public view in recent weeks as lawmakers call for UNRWA to be fully dismantled.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and 24 of his colleagues, citing the USAID inspector general's ongoing work, urged the Trump administration in a May 19 letter "to take decisive action to fully dismantle UNRWA and eliminate it from the UN budget." On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) and 90 other lawmakers issued a similar call.
Cotton told the Free Beacon that "UNRWA's terrorist ties are clear, and the U.N.'s attempt to hide those ties from the U.S. government is deeply concerning. It's long past time to completely dismantle the organization."
Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), influential members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both told the Free Beacon that it is time to move beyond merely freezing UNRWA's funding, particularly as the USAID inspector general continues to unearth evidence of Hamas complicity.
"Either they come clean, or I expect growing momentum for designating them for the support they give to terrorists," Cruz said. Hagerty called it "appalling that other U.N. agencies today are still stonewalling the Trump Administration's ongoing investigations," adding that, "if U.N. agencies refuse to show basic transparency and accountability, then the Executive Branch and Congress must respond appropriately."
Richard Goldberg, who served in both Trump administrations and is currently a senior adviser with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said authorities already exist to impose terrorism sanctions on UNRWA if the president so chooses.
The Justice Department's "position right now is that UNRWA does not enjoy privilege or immunity," Goldberg said. "That means nothing stops the Treasury Department from imposing terrorism sanctions on UNRWA to force its closure. Some people might be afraid of breaking eggs at the U.N. while the [Gaza] Board of Peace is still young, but I guarantee UNRWA's survival will be the death of the Board of Peace the second Donald Trump leaves office."
