Father Of Slain Hamas Spokesman Abu Obeida Is A UNRWA Employee

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — How deeply has the terrorist organization Hamas infiltrated UNRWA and become part of the agency itself?

Samir Al-Kahlout, father of Hadheifa Al-Kahlout, better known as Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing who was eliminated in an Israeli strike last week, is a UNRWA employee, according to a revelation by blogger Abu Ali Express.

On his Facebook profiles, Samir explicitly states that he works as a teacher for UNRWA and had previously spent 15 years teaching in Saudi Arabia (where Abu Ubaida was born). In a post from 2020, he wrote that Asid Samir Al-Kahlout is his son. Asid, Abu Ubaida’s brother, even published a video after news broke about Abu Ubaida’s elimination.

In January 2024, it was reported that one UNRWA worker had been accused of kidnapping a woman, another of distributing ammunition, and a third was described as having taken part in the massacre at a kibbutz where 97 people were murdered. All of them were employees of UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

These accusations were conveyed to the U.S. government and detailed Israel’s claims against 12 UNRWA staff members alleged to have taken part in Hamas’s October 7 attacks against Israel.

Mandy Damari, mother of former hostage Emily Damari who was released in the first phase of the hostage deal, shared with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in March 2025 that “Emily was held in UNRWA facilities and denied medical care after being shot twice. She survived by a miracle. We must get aid to the remaining hostages now.”