Lebanon: Israel eliminates a senior Hamas commander who worked for the United Nations

Hamas reported Monday that Israel eliminated one of its leaders, Fateh Al Sharif, in Lebanon, during an offensive carried out in a Palestinian refugee camp in Tyre. The scandal erupted when it was ascertained that the terrorist leader, in addition, was an employee of the U.N.

Al Sharif, who in addition to his terrorist activity served as chairman of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Lebanon, had been suspended from his position for a period of three months after the Oct. 7 massacre, when he posted on social media "Allahu akbar" to praise the brutal attack by Hamas and other terrorist groups in southern Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed in a statement that Al Sharif was responsible for supporting Hamas in Lebanon and promoting the Palestinian terrorist group's interests there, both politically and militarily.

According to reports, after being suspended from UNRWA, a demonstration was held in front of the U.N. agency's offices in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, where Al Sharif said: "Belonging to Palestine, to our people, to the West Bank, to Gaza and to all of Palestine is a doctrinal belonging. A belonging that we do not renounce. Let work go to hell. I have made a decision not to give up this institution. This institution belongs to us. My place is here, among my students."

Israeli news portal Ynet indicated that southwestern Lebanon is an area of high terrorist activity carried out by the Hamas branch in that country and also the source of a large number of rockets that have been fired into northern Israel.

Also, overnight on Sunday, the IDF attacked an apartment in a building located in the southwest of Beirut. The terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced the death of three of its senior members during the Israeli operation.

UNRWA's ties to terrorism

Last year, Jerusalem accused several UNRWA employees in Gaza of participating in the Oct. 7 massacre, and following an investigation, the agency dismissed 10 of its employees.

In April of this year, UNRWA said that eight employees remained under investigation but noted that it had decided to suspend four of these investigations due to lack of evidence.

The agency further stated that it had initiated investigations into seven other workers and that six were still ongoing.