Israel has accused the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) of employing hundreds of "terrorists". The agency, in turn, claimed that Israeli authorities tortured some of its staff as tensions in Gaza escalated.
UNRWA has been at the center of controversy since Israel in January accused about a dozen of its staff of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The Israeli military said UNRWA employs "over 450 terrorists" belonging to groups including Hamas.
"According to intelligence, over 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, mainly Hamas, also work for UNRWA," the military said in a statement.
The military also released recordings it said were of "a terrorist working as an Arabic teacher at a UNRWA school who described entering Israeli territory and claiming to be holding Israeli hostages."
Amid the controversy, Israel decided to recall its ambassador to the UN for "immediate consultations". The reason given was that Israel believed the UN had tried to "silence" information about sexual abuse by Hamas.
"I have ordered our ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, to return to Israel for immediate consultations regarding the attempt to silence information about the mass rapes committed by Hamas and its associates on October 7," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on the X social network.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denied there had been an attempt to cover up a report on sexual violence by Hamas against Israelis.
"The work was done thoroughly and expeditiously. In no way, in any form, and in no way did the Secretary-General do anything to keep the report 'quiet'. The report is being presented publicly today," said Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric./ BGNES
