A group of US citizens who are victims or relatives of victims of Hamas or Hezbollah attacks has filed a lawsuit against the UN Palestinian aid agency, accusing it of promoting terrorism.
Filed in a Washington district court last week, the lawsuit takes aim at UNRWA, whose US offices are based in the capital.
The 200 plaintiffs included in the lawsuit say UNRWA has breached US anti-terrorism laws by "collectively and collaboratively" helping to provide funds and other support to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah, all of which the US has designated as foreign terrorist organisations.
UNRWA condemned the lawsuit, calling it "baseless" and part of a "co-ordinated campaign" to distract from the agency's goal of providing aid to Palestinians.
"The continued regurgitation of false claims isn’t about concern or due diligence or any new information; it’s about weaponising misinformation to dismantle a life-saving institution precisely because of its central role in keeping Palestinian refugees and the hope of Palestinian freedom and self-determination alive," UNRWA said in a media release.
"This action is part of a broader effort to weaponise the legal system against those who dare to care."
According to the lawsuit, the support allowed the groups to "build up the necessary terror infrastructure and to recruit, indoctrinate, radicalise, train and/or compensate many of those who have carried out terrorist attacks throughout Israel".
The lawsuit also accuses the agency of employing staff who the plaintiffs allege were directly involved in terror attacks.
Many of the allegations stem from the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which began the Israel-Gaza war. One of the plaintiffs, the Mathias family, is suing on behalf of Deborah Mathias and her husband, Shlomi Mathias, who were killed by Hamas, according to the lawsuit.
"This is a case seeking justice and accountability against an entity that holds itself out as 'humanitarian' but which has utterly failed in its mission and purpose while unconscionably providing material support for terror," Richard Heideman, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, told ABC News.
The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit follows a similar one filed last year in New York.
The UN agency has long been a target of the Israeli government, particularly after the October 7 attacks, in which Israel claimed - without providing evidence - that UNRWA employees had taken part.
The US in 2024 cut funding to UNRWA over the allegations.
In January, Israel announced its decision to shut down the UNRWA offices in occupied East Jerusalem, saying it was cutting all ties with the aid agency.
UNRWA has historically been the largest distributor of assistance across Gaza, where an Israeli blockade on the entry of aid including food continues amid a worsening hunger crisis.
