Passport of UNRWA teacher ‘found on body of Sinwar’

Israeli media shows images of document belonging to man who worked for aid agency allegedly connected to Hamas

A passport belonging to an UNRWA teacher was reportedly found on the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after he was killed.
Photos published by Israel’s Channel 12 showed a document belonging to a teacher with the UN aid agency named Hani Zourob, along with other items it said were recovered by IDF troops.
The 40-year-old teacher was, however, not in Gaza at the time of Sinwar’s death on Thursday, following a shoot-out with the Israeli forces on the outskirts of Rafah.
The passport expired in 2017 and The Telegraph has been unable to independently verify where it was discovered.
Mr Zourob moved to Egypt in April, raising questions about how his old passport apparently fell into the hands of Sinwar or his entourage. The IDF said two other terrorists were killed in the gun battle. After Mr Zourub’s passport was found, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner-general, issued a statement calling it “unchecked information used to discredit” the agency and its staff.
“I confirm that the staff member in question is alive. He currently lives in Egypt where he travelled with his family in April through the Rafah border. Time to put an end to disinformation campaigns,” Mr Lazzari said.
It is unclear why Sinwar or his entourage would have the passport in their possession and Israeli officials have yet to comment.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has long accused UNRWA – an aid agency for Palestinian refugees – of being connected to Hamas.
Last month, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli air strike.
El-Amin was later revealed to have been working as an UNRWA teacher and principal in Lebanon until being suspended in March.
It was the latest in a series of scandals relating to the agency.
In August, it fired nine of its staff members after finding that they “may have been” involved in the October 7 massacre.
Farhan Haq, the UN spokesman, said UNRWA had “sufficient information in order to take the actions that we’re taking – which is to say, the termination of these nine individuals.”
That announcement followed a near six-month internal investigation into claims made by Israel that 19 of its staff members took part in the Oct 7 attack.
At least one UNRWA staff member was caught on video kidnapping an Israeli civilian from Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct 7.
The accusations led to a number of Western countries freezing funds for the agency, including the UK, which then reversed its decision after Sir Keir Starmer won July’s election.
Israel claimed earlier this year that around 10 per cent of UNRWA’s staff were associated with either Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Since then, the Israeli government has spearheaded legislation to outlaw UNRWA by declaring it a terror organisation.
That move prompted international criticism. notably from Josep Borell, the EU’s foreign policy chief.
The Spanish politician said: “Outlawing UNRWA – and labelling it as terrorist, which it is not – amounts to targeting regional stability and human dignity of all those benefiting from the UN agency work.
“We join many partners in urging the Israeli government to halt this nonsense.”