IDF Releases Recordings of UNRWA Teachers: ‘We Have Female Hostages, I Captured One’

March 5, 2024

by: Yaakov Lappin ~ JNS

Tuesday, 5 March 2024 | The Israel Defense Forces [IDF] released two recordings of phone conversations on Monday evening showing that teachers affiliated with the United Nations [UN] Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees [UNRWA] took part in the mass murder attacks in southern Israel on October 7.

The first call recording is of a Hamas terrorist working as an Arabic teacher at an UNRWA school in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, describing how he broke into Israeli territory and stating that he is holding female Israeli hostages.

The teacher was named as Yusef Al Hawajara and is heard stating on a call, “We have female hostages, I captured one.”

During the call, Al Hawajara went on to say, “We will enter Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

He described the massacre of Israelis to his friend, saying, “They shot them in the eyes.”

The second recording features an additional terrorist, described by the IDF as Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist Mamduh Ahmed Alkali, an elementary-school teacher at an UNRWA school in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. The teacher is heard telling his family that he is inside Israeli territory.

“I’m inside, I’m inside with the Jews,” stated the voice of the UNRWA teacher in response to a man asking him on the phone where he was.

The IDF said that “terror organizations in the Gaza Strip routinely exploit international aid organizations for terror purposes.”

According to IDF intelligence assessments, more than 450 terrorists—most of them Hamas members—are also employed by UNRWA.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stated on Monday evening that Hawajara was heard bragging about seizing an Israeli female hostage. “Sabayya means female captive, a ‘possession.’ Sabayya is exactly the same word used by ISIS to describe the Yazidi women they captured and did horrific things to. I want you to hear the tone, how they brag, how they laugh. How they talk about women. How they call her a ‘noble horse.’”

“I am a father of two girls. When I hear this conversation, I tremble. It’s horrific,” said Hagari. “150 days ago, on October 7, Hamas abducted and violated young women, young girls. From the testimonies of hostages who returned from captivity, we know the women and girls in Hamas captivity are in danger. Our mission to rescue these hostages from the ruthless terrorists is urgent. Hamas and ISIS follow the same barbaric ideology and employ the same barbaric methods,” he added.

UNRWA’s employment of hundreds of terrorists is “systematic,” said Hagari. “They receive salaries paid by the international community. Donations for humanitarian purposes, meant to benefit the people of Gaza, are funding mass murderers and rapists.”

The IDF has shared this and other information with “international partners, including the UN,” said the IDF spokesman. A global response is needed, he said.

Civilians in Gaza “are also suffering as a result of this war that Hamas started,” said Hagari. “Our war is against Hamas, not the people of Gaza. We acknowledge their suffering.”

On Sunday, the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip from Israel was the highest since the start of the war, Hagari said. Israel puts no limits on the amount of humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza, he added, as it continues to dismantle Hamas and seeks to rescue its hostages—an estimated 134 are still being held captive, though not all are confirmed to be alive.

Posted on March 5, 2024

Source: (This article was originally published by the Jewish News Syndicate on March 4, 2024. Time-related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See original article at this link.)

Photo Credit: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90/jns.org