In September, AP reported on @UNRWA employees sexually abusing Gaza women. No one cared. ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

In September, AP reported on @UNRWA employees sexually abusing Gaza women. No one cared.

Throughout 2024, I reported on the UN admitting there was sexual abuse by aid workers in Gaza but how it admits that it does not want to publicize the issue.

A year later, on September 30, 2025, AP published its own investigation confirming everything — and going further. Buried deep in the story are details that should have been an international scandal.

Two UNRWA workers are directly implicated.

A 35-year-old widow gave her number to a man in a UNRWA uniform while standing in an aid line. He made sexually explicit late-night calls. When she refused him, she got no aid. She complained to UNRWA — and was told she needed a recording as proof in order to report it. Her phone couldn't record, so she could not file a formal complaint. (UNRWA headquarters told AP they don't require proof.)

Sounds like something worth investigating, no?

But the second case is worse. A 38-year-old mother of six was promised a job by a man who drove her in a UN-marked vehicle — not to an office, but to an empty apartment. He told her to remove her hijab. He said she couldn't leave until she had sex with him. She complied out of fear.

The "job" materialized as a six-month UNRWA contract. He also gave her 100 shekels ($30) and a box of food. He was still contacting her with sexual demands as recently as summer 2025.

She never reported it: "I told myself that no one would believe it. Maybe they would say I am only saying this so that they would give me a job."

UNRWA's response was boilerplate deflection: "zero-tolerance policy," can't comment on individual cases, will "seek more information." Meanwhile their own PSEA network acknowledged 18 formal allegations of sexual exploitation linked to Gaza aid in 2024 — which their coordinator called "the tip of the iceberg." Four psychologists told AP they'd heard from dozens of women, some of whom became pregnant.

No major news organization - The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, BBC, Guardian - ran the story. No feminist organizations issued statements. No "pro-Palestinian" groups amplified it. No academics studied it - I cannot find any academic papers on sexual abuse in Gaza by aid workers.

AP deserves credit for at least reporting it, but even so, it buried the lede. Its headline was "Women in Gaza say they were promised food, money or work in exchange for sexual interactions" That implies the threats came from random men - not UNRWA and other aid workers.

And AP never followed up, probably because so few of its affiliates decided the storywas important enough to run in the first place.

Even worse is other people quoted in the story, the very people who should be protecting women in Gaza. A Palestinian women's activist told AP, "Most of us prefer to keep the focus on the violence and violations committed by the Israeli occupation."

The director of the same organization went further: "Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip and the restrictions on humanitarian aid are what's forcing women to resort to this."

A UNRWA worker drives a woman to an empty apartment in a UN vehicle, tells her she can't leave until she has sex with him — and this is Israel's fault according to Gaza women activists. If this is support for Gaza women, I hate to know what reckless disregard looks like.

The contrast with how news media report on allegations of sexual abuse by Israel is striking. When allegations emerged from Sde Teiman detention, CNN produced seven investigations, the UN issued a dedicated report, academics published papers, Wikipedia created an article, and legal institutes published analyses.

But when UN and other aid workers sexually abuse women in Gaza - virtual silence, or blaming Israel.

These women are being failed three times — by the men who exploited them, by the UN and other Gaza NGOs, and by every international NGO and news media that decided their stories weren't worth telling. And it is hard to escape the conclusion that the reason for this suppression of coverage is exactly what the Gaza aid worker said - everyone prefers to keep the focus on Israel, and helping these women is seen as supporting Israel's case.

Which is how antisemitism hurts even the women of Gaza.