A video released by Israeli officials reportedly shows a UN aid worker carrying the lifeless body of an Israeli man, who had been shot dead, into the trunk of an SUV and the vehicle driving away after a village in southern Israel during attacks by Hamas militants on October 7.

The video was first reported by the Washington Post and was also shared online by Israeli officials, who identified the worker as Faisal Ali Musallem al-Naami, a social worker with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinians (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip. .

UNRWA is the main humanitarian aid agency in the Gaza Strip, which is experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis due to the war caused by the attack by Hamas. Israel recently accused UNRWA of having 12 of its 13,000 workers in the Gaza Strip involved in the Hamas attack. An internal UN investigation is underway into the workers accused by Israel, from which UNRWA has been excluded, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed an independent panel to assess the agency’s “neutrality”.

In the wake of the Israeli accusations, major donor countries suspended their funding of the service. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said last Thursday that the agency’s cash flow will be negative next month and its financial problems will accelerate in April if funding suspended by a number of countries is not restored.

Referring to the video released by the Israelis, UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said: “It is not possible for UNRWA to verify the audio-visual material or the photographs and to ascertain the identity of the person shown. We have not been presented with any evidence from the Israeli authorities.”

“But since an investigation is underway by the UN’s top investigative authorities, we are calling on any country, party or entity with information – including publicly available information – to provide it to the Office of Internal Oversight Services at UN headquarters to help in conducting this investigation,” Fowler added.

CCTV footage shows a white SUV entering Kibbutz Beeri, one of the communities hardest hit by Hamas’ attacks on October 7.

The vehicle stops in front of three corpses lying in the road and on the pavement next to an overturned portable picnic cooler. A man gets out of the car holding a rifle. The driver, who is dressed in black and identified as Naomi, follows.

Together they carry one of the men lying on the street by the arms and legs and put him in the trunk of the SUV. The two then briefly look at scattered objects before leaving the kibbutz in reverse.

A screenshot of the video was posted to X by a spokesman for the Israeli military, and an excerpt was posted by a foreign ministry official.

Reuters had previously published the same CCTV footage from Kibbutz Beeri, having verified the location by comparing infrastructure, the arrangement of trees and the shape of the road using satellite and archival images of the area.

Reuters did not and could not independently verify the identities of the men seen in the video.

In a press conference yesterday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad referred to this video and said that more than 30 UNRWA workers participated in the October 7 massacre and helped Hamas fighters take hostages.