An accusation is circulating among critics of the United Nations that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)—the primary agency tasked with providing humanitarian support to Palestinians in Gaza—is mourning the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed on Wednesday by Israeli Defense Forces.
The claim builds on past and ongoing accusations that the U.N. agency has deep ties to Hamas, an allegation the U.N. firmly rejected.
In August, nine UNRWA employees were fired following Israel’s allegations that certain staff members had participated in the brutal Oct. 7 attacks against Israeli civilians last year.
Israeli authorities have maintained that that move was insufficient. Two bills before the Israeli parliament seek to block UNRWA’s work.
The most recent claim knocking UNRWA—that the agency is mourning Sinwar’s death—comes from its profile photo on X, which features a black band across the upper left corner.
“UNRWA has put a black band across its profile image to grieve for Sinwar,” one person wrote. “Just in case it was unclear what the UN is.”
“UNRWA appears to be mourning the death of Yahya Sinwar,” said someone else. “All UNRWA accounts added a black stripe to their profile.”
The claim was similarly promoted by former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who asked the agency: “What are you mourning? Sinwars death?”
But the black mark—which does indeed indicate mourning—was first added nearly a year ago and was visible on Oct. 22 when UNRWA announced it was grieving the deaths of 29 UNRWA workers.
The German news agency DW noted that UNRWA’s Facebook photo has included a black stripe since Oct. 11, 2023—though not all the affiliated UNRWA social media accounts include one.
Some critics argued that the ribbon had been removed and replaced as the war unfolded, but fact-checkers say it was there before Sinwar’s death.
“I’m far from a big fan of UNRWA but I am a big fan of accuracy,” one person said. “Looking at this tweet from Sept 2024 which has a screenshot of an UNRWA tweet & the logo has the black band it feels highly unlikely that they switched their logo today. Unless they’ve been switching constantly.”
A review of archived screenshots on the Wayback Machine likewise shows the band’s consistent presence.
The war in Gaza—which was spurred by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks that saw nearly 1,200 people killed and hundreds taken hostage—has left a devastating toll on civilians in Gaza and humanitarian operations. The Gaza health ministry estimates the death toll to be more than 42,000, while UNRWA has reported a total 228 of its staff members killed.
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