WASHINGTON — A U.S. government agency is intensifying its investigation into over 100 officials at a United Nations relief agency who are suspected of having connections to Hamas or being involved in the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks that resulted in the deaths of numerous Americans, The Post has learned.
The Office of the Inspector General for the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is revealing ongoing links to terrorism within the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to a U.S. official.
“USAID is currently examining over 100 UNRWA officials for connections to Hamas and involvement in the October 7th attacks,” noted a U.S. diplomat knowledgeable about the active and ongoing investigation by USAID’s Inspector General. “The number of individuals under scrutiny continues to grow.”
The investigation to date has identified 14 UNRWA employees linked to Hamas and has recommended the debarment of two additional staff members, effectively barring them from receiving U.S. funding for the next decade. Meanwhile, one former employee of the troubled Palestinian relief agency has already been prohibited from accessing federal funds.
In February 2025, President Trump issued an executive order ceasing all U.S. financial support to UNRWA, although the agency still benefited from over $839 million through the United Nations.
“The evidence of UNRWA’s ties to terrorism is irrefutable, and President Trump made the right decision to cut funding—yet the United Nations failed to respond adequately,” stated Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch in a statement released on March 3.
“I am glad to see President Trump’s USAID Office of the Inspector General conduct its own investigations to ensure bad actors like UNRWA don’t get taxpayer dollars.”
USAID Deputy Inspector General Adam Kaplan is prepared to share the office’s findings as well as others from 149 active investigations with members of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee on Tuesday.
That will include information on his office’s foreign aid audits, uncovering of bribery and other illicit schemes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars — after the Elon Musk-led closure of USAID itself one year ago due to fraud concerns.
“I am proud to say that even in a year of vast change, USAID OIG has continued to achieve unprecedented results,” Kaplan said in a written statement submitted to the subcommittee last week.
“As the only OIG with foreign service personnel, our offices in Ukraine, Israel, El Salvador, South Africa, and Thailand allow for timely and aggressive oversight close to American-funded projects on the ground.”
Kaplan is making the case to Congress that the watchdog government agency is still needed even after USAID is shut down — and is bringing receipts of the alleged fraud, waste and abuse his office has uncovered.
Three months after USAID’s closure, three business owners and a USAID contracting officer pleaded guilty to bilking taxpayers out of $550 million over a 10-year period following an IG investigation.
Another IG inquiry led to the indictment of two foreign nationals for allegedly conspiring to divert $650 million in taxpayer-funded HIV/AIDS care and treatment from a Kenyan government-run corporation.
That helped preserve $32 million in funding for non-fraudulent aid, Kaplan says in testimony.
Additionally, the IG office helped bust 19 people in December participating in a visa fraud ring spanning Central and South America that defrauded victims out of more than $2.5 million.
USAID OIG auditors also discovered in a report issue earlier this month that more than $26 billion sent to shore up the Ukraine government’s budget amid its war with Russia was in fact being received by individuals “living abroad,” in addition to issues with “duplicate payments.”
The office was not included on a new organization chart put out by the State Department after it closed USAID, yet has continued to pursue investigations — even as lawmakers field proposals to similarly shut it down.
The testimony comes as federal agencies have been meeting with lawmakers to discuss annual appropriations. Last year, USAID OIG received more than $62.5 million that had initially been slated solely for the State Department Office of Inspector General.
A May 2025 legislative proposal — which was distributed to members of Congress again in February — still has suggested the abolition of USAID OIG and the assumption of all its tasks by the State Department’s inspector general.
The proposal was followed by a meeting between members of the State IG’s office and lawmakers, during which the legislative approach was rejected, said one source familiar with the sit down.
Reps for the State Department Office of Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
