Hostage's Daughter Challenges UN on UNRWA's Hamas Ties

Neta Heiman Mina, daughter of former hostage Ditza Heiman, directly questioned the United Nations on Tuesday regarding continued funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), citing accusations of links between some of its employees and Hamas. Speaking at the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Heiman Mina recounted her mother's captivity. Ditza Heiman, 84 at the time of her abduction by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was held for 53 days in Gaza. According to her daughter, she spent 48 of those days in the attic of an UNRWA teacher, enduring harsh conditions and severe food shortages.

"How can you entrust the education of the next generation in Gaza to someone involved in the detention of an elderly woman?" Heiman Mina asked UN representatives. She asserted that her mother's case is not isolated, referencing accusations against multiple UNRWA employees suspected of involvement in the October 7 massacre and kidnappings. She specifically mentioned Suhail al-Hindi, a former UNRWA union official in Gaza, whom Israel accuses of having ties to Hamas.

Heiman Mina's address, delivered on behalf of UN Watch and Engineers of the World, occurred during a debate on human rights education. UNRWA, established in 1949, provides humanitarian aid, health services, and education to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and other regional countries.

Her intervention followed the release of a critical UN Watch report on the agency's reform efforts. UN Watch claims UNRWA has significantly overstated its progress since revelations about alleged employee involvement in the October 7 attack. UNRWA states it has implemented 41 of 50 recommendations from an independent commission led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, but UN Watch contends only 13 have been fully enacted.