INTERNACIONAL
How the Oct 7 Hamas terror attacks exposed long-running concerns about UNRWA, new film charges
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EXCLUSIVE: As Israeli bulldozers razed structures at the UNRWA headquarters on Tuesday after Israel enacted legislation last year banning the agency’s operations on Israeli territory, a new documentary sheds light on the controversial U.N. agency for its close relationship with Hamas terrorists, and its lax controls of allowing antisemitism to be taught to generations of its students.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the move against the UNRWA buildings, calling it a violation of international law, while Israeli officials said the compound had not been in active use and that the demolition was carried out in accordance with Israeli law.
The development comes weeks after the United Nations General Assembly voted to renew UNRWA’s mandate through 2029, despite growing opposition and abstentions from several Western countries. The renewal followed months of controversy surrounding the agency after Israeli authorities provided videos that show UNRWA employees participating in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. Those allegations remain under investigation, and UNRWA has said it dismissed several staff members following the claims.
TRUMP ADMIN WEIGHS TERRORISM SANCTIONS AGAINST UN PALESTINIAN AID AGENCY OVER HAMAS ALLEGATIONS
During the war in Gaza, the Israeli military has also discovered weapons, tunnel shafts and other Hamas infrastructure in UNRWA facilities, including schools.
Heavy machinery operates as Israeli forces dismantle the Jerusalem headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in East Jerusalem, Jan. 20, 2026. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Fox News Digital reported last week that UNRWA USA acknowledged reports that the Trump administration is considering designating UNRWA as a foreign terrorist organization and that agency officials urged congressional staffers to oppose the move.
Last October, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, talking to reporters in Israel, reiterated the Trump administration’s policy to the U.N. and UNRWA. «The United Nations is here. They’re on the ground. We’re willing to work with them if they can make it work, but not UNRWA. UNRWA became a subsidiary of Hamas.»
The new documentary titled «UNraveling UNRWA» is now drawing renewed attention to the agency’s structure, history and political role.
The film examines UNRWA from its establishment in 1949 to its operations today. It features interviews with refugees, Arab and Israeli voices, as well as former UNRWA officials.
Participants in the film argue that UNRWA has long promoted U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194, a 1948 measure Palestinians interpret as granting refugees and their descendants the right to return to homes inside Israel, an idea the documentary shows has helped perpetuate refugee status rather than resolve it.
A man stands in Gaza with UNRWA aid. (Reuters)
Zlatko Zigic, former director of the U.N. migration agency from 1997 to 2017, says in the film that «the problem of UNRWA is the concept of endless struggle of Palestinians to return,» adding that maintaining a right of return to Israel has «become a tool to perpetuate the conflict.»
The documentary also includes scenes filmed inside UNRWA schools, showing classroom lessons in which children are taught that they will one day return to land inside Israel. In one scene presented in the film, Jews are referred to as «the wolves,» and a teacher asks elementary school students, «What did the Jews do to us?» before telling them they were expelled and deported, that their families were killed, and they should be grateful to UNRWA, who built refugee camps for them.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, former UNRWA legal adviser James Lindsay, who also appears in the film, said that dynamic lies at the heart of what he believes is a systemic problem.
«The main problem in oversight has to do, I’m pretty sure, likely at the ground level where the local authorities, in this case we’re talking about Gaza, so we’re talking about Hamas,» Lindsay said. «The people who work for UNRWA are subject, yes, to UNRWA, but they are even more importantly subject to the local authorities,» in this case Hamas.
RUBIO SLAMS UNRWA AS A ‘SUBSIDIARY OF HAMAS,’ VOWS IT WILL NOT ‘PLAY ANY ROLE’ IN DELIVERING AID TO GAZA
A Palestinian boy walks near an UNRWA school sheltering displaced people that was hit in an an overnight Israeli strike, in Gaza City, July 5, 2025. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)
Lindsay said that while donor governments may see detailed paperwork and reporting, the reality on the ground can look very different.
He said UNRWA leadership historically did not attempt to bar Hamas members from employment, arguing that the organization viewed Hamas as part of Palestinian political life.
«UNRWA has made no effort to keep Hamas out,» Lindsay said. «The position for the commissioners-general has been that UNRWA does not have a problem with Hamas.»
He described an environment in which local staff and contractors faced severe pressure from Hamas, creating incentives to comply with demands rather than risk retaliation.
ISRAEL SAYS UN MISLEADS WORLD AS GAZA AID STOLEN AND DIVERTED FROM CIVILIANS
An IDF infographic with descriptions of what it claims are the UNRWA workers that took part in the Oct 7 massacre. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
«If Hamas comes to you and says, we would like maybe 5% of the concrete you’re using, or maybe you need to show 5% more food was distributed than actually was, you’re not going to say no,» he said. «If you don’t do what Hamas says, you’re not going to get fired. You’re going to have very bad things happen to you.»
Lindsay said those realities rarely reach senior international staff, who make up only a small fraction of UNRWA’s workforce in Gaza.
«In Gaza you’re talking about maybe 12,000 -13,000 total staff members, of whom maybe 25 are actual internationals,» he said.
He said that over time, many humanitarian workers developed what the U.S. State Department refers to as «clientitis,» a phenomenon in which aid organizations begin to identify politically with the populations they serve.
This picture taken during a media tour organised by the Israeli army on February 8, 2024, shows Israeli soldiers inside an evacuated compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)
«Humanitarian organizations have begun to identify with the people to whom they’re providing humanitarian aid,» Lindsay said. «In that case, that means identifying with one strain of the Palestinian political scene, which is Hamas.»
Lindsay said he initially believed UNRWA could be reformed but later concluded the agency’s structure made meaningful reform impossible.
«It can’t be reformed in the sense that it’s not allowed to reform by the governmental people in charge,» he said. «It’s also difficult to reform UNRWA because the members of UNRWA have become what the State Department calls clientitis.»
He also criticized the agency’s handling of educational content, saying teachers in UNRWA schools were subject to the same threats and coercion as other staff.
UNRWA’s headquarters in Gaza City, Gaza on Feb. 21, 2024. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«What are people going to do under a murderous totalitarian government like Hamas?» Lindsay said. «They’re not going to take their chances.»
Following the General Assembly’s recent vote to renew UNRWA’s mandate, Lindsay said the agency views the outcome as a vote of confidence but noted that opposition is growing.
«In 2022, there was one vote against renewing the mandate and 10 abstentions,» he said. «Most recently, there were 10 votes against and 18 abstentions. The movement is against UNRWA because of the things that have been brought out over the last few years, particularly since Oct.7 of 2023.»
He added that while UNRWA enjoys broad support among U.N. member states, those countries are not the agency’s primary funders.
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A Palestinian boy carries an aid box provided by UNRWA, amid a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
«The vast majority of countries in the U.N. are anti-West and are certainly pro-UNRWA,» Lindsay said. «But donors are the ones that count because the money all comes from voluntary donations, largely by Western countries, the same countries that are becoming nervous. And that is, I think, a real threat to the continuation of UNRWA.»
anti semitism,united nations,israel,terrorism,hamas
INTERNACIONAL
Battleground GOP lawmaker moves to block what he calls Democratic redistricting ‘power grab’
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FIRST ON FOX: A battleground district House Republican is wading into the redistricting war that has seized the U.S. with his own new proposal to crack down on «partisan gamesmanship.»
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., has introduced a bill called the Fair Apportionment and Independent Redistricting for Maps that Avoid Partisanship (FAIR MAP) Act, which would impose new guardrails on the process of changing congressional districts across all 50 states.
The bill would bar states from drawing districts for or against a specific political party or candidate and ban the creation of new congressional maps more than once a decade following the U.S. census.
It comes as election watchers eye Virginia and Maryland as the latest states whose Democrat-led legislatures could move to redraw their congressional boundaries ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
REDISTRICTING BATTLES BREWING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PARTIES COMPETE FOR POWER AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, July 15, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Earlier this month, a state Supreme Court judge in Lawler’s own home turf of New York ruled that New York City’s lone Republican-held district is unconstitutional and must be redrawn — handing potentially a consequential win to Democrats.
Lawler said of Democrats’ push in his state, «[Gov. Kathy Hochul] and [House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’] scheme to redraw New York’s congressional districts months before an election is a blatant power grab and misuse of public office.»
The growing redistricting war was kicked off last year when Texas’ GOP-led legislature approved a new congressional map that could give Republicans as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives come the November elections.
Redistricting normally occurs every 10 years after the U.S. census is taken to ensure that seats in the House are reflective of each state’s population. And while there’s a patchwork of state laws aimed at blocking those districts from being redrawn along partisan lines, there is no current federal standard.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference, July 31, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)
In addition to banning mid-decade redistricting in most cases and creating a federal gerrymandering standard, Lawler’s bill would also create a host of new provisions dictating how those populations are ultimately counted and how disputes can be resolved.
The bill would block state and local courts from legal redistricting fights, for example, leaving it to federal judges to weigh in on those fights.
DOJ URGES SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK CALIFORNIA MAP, CALLS NEWSOM-BACKED PLAN A RACIAL GERRYMANDER
It would also mandate that just U.S. citizens are counted toward state populations when creating new maps — something that could take a significant amount of power away from sanctuary jurisdictions that can currently factor numbers of illegal immigrants who cannot vote when apportioning districts.
The legislation also includes new electoral provisions like barring ranked-choice voting in federal elections, requiring photo ID for voting in those elections, and banning same-day registration in federal elections.
Lawler was among the House Republicans who forcefully came out against the growing redistricting war last summer, when leaders in Texas and California were going toe-to-toe with threats to redraw their maps.
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But it does not appear likely as of now that his bill will get taken up for a House-wide vote, given House GOP leaders’ prior insistence that redistricting is a states’ issue.
«Voting rights and equal representation only work if the system itself is fair, transparent, and trusted. My FAIR MAP Act puts clear guardrails around congressional redistricting, ends mid-decade political map rigging, and ensures that federal elections reflect the voices of lawful voters, not partisan gamesmanship,» Lawler told Fox News Digital. «Every voter deserves confidence that the system is fair and that their vote counts the same as anyone else’s.»
house of representatives politics,politics,house of representatives,republicans
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Israel on Monday confirmed that the remains of Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza, have been recovered and returned home.
Gvili, a 24-year-old Israel Police officer from Meitar at the time of his death, was killed during fighting on Oct. 7, 2023, after confronting Hamas terrorists near Kibbutz Alumim and was later abducted to Gaza, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
«Ran, with his broad shoulders and radiant smile, was all heart. A true friend, loved by everyone. He loved life, was a young man of deep values, always spoke at eye level, and carried a powerful yet calm presence,» the group said.
Gvili is survived by his parents, Talik and Itzik, his brother Omri, and his sister Shira, and extended family.
AMERICAN-ISRAELI IDF PLATOON COMMANDER KILLED IN BATTLE, BODY HELD IN GAZA, IDF SAYS
People hold signs with a photo of Ran Gvili, who was killed while fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and whose body has been held in Gaza ever since, during a rally calling for his return in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said following the completion of an identification process conducted by Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine, in coordination with police and military authorities, officials informed the Gvili family that their loved one’s remains had been identified and would be returned for burial.
The IDF expressed condolences to the family and said all hostages have now been returned from Gaza to Israel.
This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.
israel,middle east,hamas
INTERNACIONAL
León XIV, entre la preocupación por el pueblo ucraniano y los planes para viajar a la Argentina
Por iniciativa del Papa, nuevos grupos de camiones están siendo alistados en Roma para partir hacia el este con ayuda de primera necesidad para Ucrania, cuya población está sufriendo duros ataques por parte de Rusia. Por otro lado, en el Vaticano se consolida la impresión de que el Papa viajará en el segundo semestre del año a Sudamérica, agregando al Perú como última etapa de una gira por Argentina y Uruguay.
Se informó que la ayuda consiste esta vez en ropa térmica, mantas y barras de alimentos concentrados en la Basílica de Santa Sofía, la iglesia ucraniana en Roma.
Desde el inicio de la guerra, 260 camiones y ambulancias guiados por conductores valientes, como los llamó el cardenal limosnero del Papa, el polaco Konrad Krajewski, han llevado asistencia. El cardenal había lanzado un pedido de nueva ayuda extraordinaria difundida por los medios católicos y elogió a los que guían camiones, ambulancias y otros vehículos hacia Ucrania.
El presidente ucraniano Volodimir Zelenski condecoró al cardenal Krajewski, quien dijo que la medalla no es para el Limosnero sino para las personas de buena voluntad, como las que desde Roma donan ropa y alimentos, o aportan dinero para comprar ecógrafos, generadores y ocho ambulancias que han sido llevadas a Ucrania.
Todo se hace de acuerdo con la lógica del Evangelio, dijo el cardenal. La ayuda es más imprescindible hoy no solo por los tremendos daños que están sufriendo los ucranianos, sino por el intenso frío.
El Papa hizo un nuevo llamado cuando la guerra parece no tener fin y sufren millones de ucranianos. En el Ángelus, el pontífice denunció que incluso en estos días, Ucrania está siendo objeto de ataques continuos que dejan a poblaciones enteras expuestas al frío del invierno. Sigo con dolor lo que ocurre, estoy cerca y rezo por quienes sufren.
La prolongación de las hostilidades, con consecuencias cada vez más graves para los civiles, amplía la fractura entre los pueblos y aleja una paz justa y duradera, señaló León XIV. El pontífice pidió a los habitantes de todo el mundo orar por la paz en Ucrania, en Medio Oriente y en cada región donde, lamentablemente, se lucha por intereses que no son los de los pueblos. La paz se construye en el respeto de los pueblos.
En otra intervención, el Papa elogió los esfuerzos diplomáticos que se realizan para lograr un alto el fuego. Gracias a Dios están trabajando, gracias a Dios parece que nos vamos acercando. En el diálogo hay diversos problemas, pero quiero invitar a todos a un cese del fuego, porque aún tantos están muriendo. El Papa insistió en mantener el diálogo para buscar una solución.
El Papa León XIV cree que debe llevar sus mensajes por el mundo para lograr, en primer lugar, una conciencia colectiva contra las guerras que se siguen difundiendo. En el Vaticano aumentan los preparativos para el viaje que, en el primer semestre de 2026, el Papa proyecta realizar a países africanos.
En cuanto al viaje que nunca se concreta a Sudamérica, el cardenal arzobispo de Montevideo, Daniel Fernando Sturla, dijo que el Papa se despidió de él, tras el reciente Consistorio al que asistieron los cardenales de todo el mundo en el Vaticano, con un: «Nos veremos en Montevideo».
Esta vez, varias versiones coinciden en que el Papa quiere hacer el viaje y que se concretaría en el segundo semestre de 2026. Serían tres los países elegidos: Argentina, Uruguay y Perú.
El Papa Robert Francis Prevost vivió muchos años como misionero en Perú y fue obispo de Chiclayo, elegido para aquel cargo en su momento por el Papa argentino Jorge Bergoglio. En principio, la gira concluiría en Perú tras las etapas en nuestro país y Uruguay.
Como este viaje ha sufrido varias postergaciones desde que el Papa Francisco dijo que proyectaba hacerlo, tras 12 años sin volver a su patria, las versiones sobre la visita del actual Pontífice a Argentina sufren idas y vueltas. Pero esta vez parece que la inclusión de Perú en la gira fortalece la versión de que el periplo sudamericano se concretará en el segundo semestre de este año.
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