Quit or Fired? UN Employee with Alleged Hamas Links Out

UNRWA announced the suspension of Dr. Suhail al-Hindi (C), chairman of the UNRWA staff union in the Gaza Strip, after his election to Hamas’ political bureau.

Gaza City, 26 Rajab 1438/23 April 2017 MINA) – The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says a Gaza staffer suspected of being elected to the Islamic militant Hamas group’s leadership no longer works for the agency, albawaba.com reported on Sunday.

Agency spokesman Chris Gunness says Saturday Suhail al-Hindi is no longer employed by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

He declined to say whether al-Hindi had quit or was fired, saying the agency doesn’t “discuss the terms of departure of individual staff members.”

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In February, UNRWA suspended al-Hindi — the chairman of the agency’s Palestinian workers’ union — pending the results of an internal investigation sparked by Israeli accusations that the school principal was a member of Hamas’ new political leadership.

Al-Hindi denied links to Gaza’s rulers. More than two-thirds of Gaza’s two million people depend on some form of foreign aid, with the Palestinian enclave hit by three wars against Israel since 2008 and remains under a decade-old Israeli blockade.

UN officials have called for the blockade to be lifted, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

Hamas is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and most of Europe, but it is seen as a legitimate national liberation movement in Palestine and much of the Arab world. (T/RS5/RS1)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)