Court finds claim that UNRWA USA is liable for Oct 7 attacks baseless 

August 8, 2025, Wilmington, DE – A U.S. federal district court today dismissed a civil lawsuit that falsely claimed that a U.S. charity supported terrorism by providing financial contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The bogus suit is part of a broader attack by the Israeli government and its supporters on UNRWA, until recently the primary provider of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. 

In response to today’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit, Mara Kronenfeld, Executive Director of UNRWA USA stated, “UNRWA USA is gratified to see that the court judge recognized the multiple defects in the plaintiffs’ argument and sees this meritless case for what it is. It is a politically motivated attempt to bog UNRWA USA down in frivolous lawfare and intimidate us out of doing our essential humanitarian work. That effort is all the more disturbing given that experts around the world, including Israeli human rights groups, are terming what is happening in Gaza a genocide.”

Mandated by the UN to provide a range of essential services to registered Palestine refugees throughout the Middle East, UNRWA has played an indispensable role amid the latest Israeli assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 60,000, a conservative estimate, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million, half of whom are children. Throughout the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, UNRWA USA – which is 501(c)(3) nonprofit independent of the U.N. agency – has been an important vehicle for people in the U.S. to help Palestine refugees in need. More than 160,000 donors from across the United States have enabled UNRWA USA to support UNRWA with more than $68 million in contributions to Gaza since October 2023. 

But the charity’s support for UNRWA’s life-saving work – the centerpiece of its mission — has made it a target in the legal and political attack on the UN agency. The Israeli government and its supporters have long sought to discredit and undermine UNRWA, and this propaganda effort has intensified since October 7th as Israel restricts the flow of food and other necessities into the area, causing widespread deprivation and mass starvation. 

By mandate of the global community of nations via the United Nations, UNRWA managed the logistics for the UN’s aid delivery system, operating 400 distribution sites across the Gaza Strip—until Israel replaced them with the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). GHF is a privatized, militarized aid scheme conceived and backed by Israel and the U.S. to control and coerce a starving population. It is failing catastrophically. Today, GHF operates just four aid sites. Palestinians are forced to walk miles through rubble and danger for a chance at food, only to be corralled into fenced-off pens and, in many cases, shot. Since GHF’s implementation, the Israeli military and private contractors – or mercenaries – have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians at or near GHF sites. This is not aid. This is engineered forced starvation and a deathtrap. UNRWA and its UN partners are the only entities positioned to deliver principled aid at scale across Gaza, and they must be allowed to do their jobs in order to save lives in Gaza.

“This lawsuit was a cynical misuse of the Anti-Terrorism Act to intimidate an organization whose sole mission is providing humanitarian aid to a vulnerable population,” said Joseph Pace, who argued UNRWA USA’s motion to dismiss. “Its dismissal shows what happens when baseless accusations face judicial scrutiny.”

The lawsuit contended that UNRWA USA was complicit in the Hamas-led attacks of October 7 simply because it contributed funds to UNRWA. Yet 72 U.N. member states, including the United States, have also financially supported UNRWA. The suit did not allege that any UNRWA USA aid went to Hamas or that the charity sought to assist Hamas. The entire case rested on the false claim that Hamas is, as the complaint put it, “woven into the fabric” of UNRWA. An independent review, U.S. intelligence, and now a federal court have all debunked this claim. 

“Israel is starving children to death in Gaza as part of its plan to eliminate the Palestinian people, and lawyers are swooping into U.S. courts with meritless claims in order to try to stop food from reaching them and to suppress demands to end this genocide,” said Maria LaHood, Center for Constitutional Rights deputy legal director. “Every day, more and more people of conscience are calling for an end to the killing – intimidation will not silence the growing movement for Palestinian liberation.”   

UNRWA USA is represented by Beldock, Levine & Hoffman, J Pace Law PLLC, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Constitutional Rights cooperating counsel Judith Chomsky, and local counsel Michael C. Heyden, Jr. and Joseph E. Brenner.

For more information, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights case page.