A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The UK condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023. We welcome Unrwa’s commitment to fully investigate any allegations against their employees and the continued implementation of the Colonna Report’s recommendations.” The report called Unwra “indispensable” but raised concerns about its governance, politicisation, and the hijacking of the agency for Hamas-led purposes.
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Ayelet with Yarnton Samerano (right)[Missing Credit]
Since October 7, Ayelet Samerano has campaigned around the world. First she called for Yonatan’s body to be brought home, meeting foreign ambassadors to the UN and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Yonatan’s body was eventually recovered from Gaza by the IDF in June 2025 after 625 days. She says neither the UN nor Unrwa has apologised for the involvement of its workers in the October 7 massacre.
One of the kidnappers, Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami, was killed in an IDF strike in Gaza in 2023.
After the recovery of Yonatan’s body, Israeli security authorities informed the family that the IDF had arrested the second kidnapper, a Hamas member, who is currently detained and under investigation.
“We filed a request to meet him, to ask whether Yonatan was abducted dead or alive,” she said. “It is important for us to understand what happened to him in his final moments.”
Samerano described Yonatan, 21, as “talented, fun and beloved by everyone”. He was a successful nightlife entrepreneur in Tel Aviv and had gone to the Nova festival with two friends mainly to learn from its production. When the attack began, they tried to seek shelter in Kibbutz Be’eri but were shot by a terrorist squad.
It took four days for the family to discover that Yonatan had been kidnapped to Gaza. Until his body was recovered, the Samerano family did not know for certain whether he was alive or dead. “He returned as a mummified body, and we were advised to not witness this…We are hostages for life. There is no closure. It never lets you go.”
In 2024, Israel’s Defence Ministry declared that around 12 per cent of Unrwa’s Gaza workforce were active members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Unrwa said Israel had not provided actionable evidence to prove it. Last month, Unrwa dismissed 70 employees over alleged connections to terror organisations. British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari had told Sir Keir Starmer she was held captive in an Unrwa facility.
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Ayelet Samerano[Missing Credit]
Dina Rovner, a legal adviser at UN Watch, an independent Switzerland-based human rights monitoring organisation which supported Ayelet’s campaign, said UN Watch had “repeatedly” alerted Unrwa Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini “to extensive evidence of Hamas infiltration, providing detailed documentation over several years.
“Despite these warnings, Unrwa continued employing individuals affiliated with terrorist organisations, paying their salaries, entrusting them with positions of authority, and assuring donor governments that its neutrality safeguards were effective.”
Last week, as Lazzarini ended his term, UN Watch called for his immunity to be waived so national authorities can investigate whether he bears legal responsibility for the agency’s alleged Hamas infiltration before October 7. Unrwa has been approached for comment.
Samerano believes her son gave her this “life mission. Unrwa and Lazzarini must be held accountable,” she said.
