Federal investigators have independently confirmed for the first time that a man caught on tape brazenly dragging an Israeli’s lifeless body into the back of an SUV during Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre was a social worker for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) who moonlit as a Hamas “military communications” operative, according to nonpublic investigatory records obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon.
Faisal Ali Al-Naami, an “UNRWA social worker,” was caught on CCTV video driving with a gunman into Kibbutz Be’eri—the site of some of Hamas’s most horrific crimes—and loading the corpse of 21-year-old Yonatan Samerano into the vehicle’s trunk before driving back into Gaza. Al-Naami was publicly named by Israel in February 2024, when it first disclosed that at least a dozen UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 massacre.
Israel’s findings were characterized at the time by some Western media outlets, including the Washington Post and Reuters, as mere allegations of wrongdoing by UNRWA staff. Much of Israel’s intelligence was subsequently dismissed by the United Nations when it conducted its own confidential investigation into Al-Naami and 18 other UNRWA staffers who allegedly joined Hamas’s assault.
But the U.S. Agency for International Development inspector general’s office, a law enforcement entity separate from the largely defunct USAID, has now independently confirmed through its own active investigation that Al-Naami—like more than 100 other UNRWA employees—was an active Hamas terrorist serving on the jihadist group’s front lines, rather than a mere participant in the attacks, when he absconded with Samerano’s body on Oct. 7. Al-Naami was killed by an Israeli airstrike in October 2023, according to an online martyr notice, which only listed him as a “humanitarian worker with UNRWA.”
“The USAID IG’s investigation independently linking UNRWA officials like Al-Naami to the kidnapping, maiming, and murders of civilians on October 7th is a game-changer,” a senior State Department official responsible for Near East affairs told the Free Beacon. “While the U.N. and other Western nations sought to downplay Israel’s own findings, the truth of the matter is now coming to light. The USAID IG’s continued investigative findings eliminate any doubt linking UNRWA staff to the horrific images of callously tossing murdered civilians into a pickup truck on October 7.”
The USAID inspector general additionally confirmed that at least three UNRWA school teachers—who are still living—participated in the Oct. 7 attacks and held Israeli civilians hostage in Gaza. It has referred all three men to the State Department for inclusion on a federal blacklist that will prevent them from participating in all American foreign aid projects for a period of 10 years. To date, federal “investigators have reviewed evidence linking at least 108 current or former staff at UNRWA to Hamas and other participation in the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel and/or affiliation with Hamas,” according to the latest investigative summary reviewed by the Free Beacon.
The USAID inspector general’s ongoing probe into UNRWA, historically the primary relief organization operating in Gaza, could be the final nail in the coffin for the group, which some U.S. lawmakers have demanded be formally designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The Trump administration, including its Board of Peace, is advocating for UNRWA to be fully dissolved and replaced by a new humanitarian network free of Hamas infiltration. The embattled aid group’s reputation is already in tatters, and the steady drumbeat of the inspector general’s findings suggests the agency may not be salvageable.
“Drip by drip, the USAID IG’s groundbreaking investigations revealing Hamas interference in billions of dollars of American-funded aid intended for vulnerable civilians are showing which aid organizations are responsible, and which, like UNRWA, can never be trusted,” a senior State Department official familiar with ongoing deliberations regarding UNRWA told the Free Beacon.
When the United Nations investigated Israel’s claims about Al-Naami in July 2024, it determined that “the evidence provided” could only prove his guilt if it was “authenticated and corroborated” independently, which the United Nations never did. The aforementioned martyr notice posted by the Palestinian Shireen Observatory, which purports to track Israeli war crimes, describes Al-Naami as a “cheerful, and friendly personality.”
“He was well-liked by colleagues, clients, and beneficiaries alike,” it says. “On October 16, Naami, along with five of his children and one of his wives, was killed in an airstrike that targeted their home in Nuseirat.”
The three other individuals flagged in the USAID inspector general’s latest report come in addition to around 101 other UNRWA staffers previously identified as Hamas operatives. More than 1,500 in total are currently being investigated as the scope of the probe expands.
One former UNRWA “school teacher and Hamas military operative in the Deir el Balah Battalion” was discovered to have “engaged in kidnapping operations during the October 7,” according to the investigative summary.
A second former “UNRWA school teacher, who through Hamas military records, was identified as an operative of the Rafah Brigade of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who was allegedly in Israel during the October 7 attacks,” the report makes clear.
A third “former UNRWA school teacher and Hamas operative for the Deir el Balah Battalion” was discovered to have “allegedly received and held civilian hostages beginning on October 7, 2023.”
The USAID inspector general makes clear that “additional referrals to the Department of State are expected, as well as potential criminal referrals to the Department of Justice” for all of the Hamas-linked UNRWA staff.
“It remains USAID OIG’s investigative priority to ensure that U.S.-funded humanitarian assistance does not fall into the hands of foreign terrorist organizations, depriving assistance from reaching civilians in need,” the report states. “In support of this effort, USAID OIG, with its unique global oversight capacity, has significant ongoing investigative work aimed at preventing the recirculation of terrorist-affiliated actors across U.S.-funded aid organizations, including UN entities.”
“Unfortunately, it is no surprise that additional UNRWA employees were determined to be involved in the barbaric October 7 attack,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told the Free Beacon. “President Trump and Secretary Rubio have affirmed time and time again that no State Department funding will be provided to UNRWA, which has been totally infiltrated by Hamas and terrorist sympathizers.”
The Free Beacon first reported earlier this month that multiple U.N. agencies have been stonewalling the USAID inspector general’s investigation since late last year. At least six of those organizations have failed to furnish the full list of documents about their employees that were requested by federal investigators. The ongoing investigation has further determined that Hamas routinely bullied and intimidated employees of U.S.-funded NGOs operating in Gaza in order to control their operations.
“The world needs to move beyond UNRWA, which became a subsidiary of Hamas,” said the senior State Department Official responsible for Near East affairs.
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