Has the UNRWA added a black stripe to its social media profiles to mourn Yahya Sinwar’s death?

Multiple posts on social media are claiming that The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has added black stripes to the top corner of their social media profile pictures after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Footage of Sinwar’s final moments captured by a drone was released by the Israeli military after his death on 16 October. In following days, there has been much discussion about the future leadership of Hamas and the potential ramifications of his death.

The UNRWA was established as a United Nations agency in 1949 to provide humanitarian aid  to Palestinian refugees – operating in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria with over 30,000 employees. It has continued to operate in the Gaza strip since the beginning of the recent Israel-Hamas conflict on 7 October 2023. The organisation has faced accusations from Israel, which claimed earlier this year that 450 UNRWA workers in Gaza were “terrorists.” Although an independent review found that Israel had yet to provide any evidence of this, criticism surrounding UNRWA’s alleged ties to Hamas and the termination of 9 employees who “may have been involved in the 7 October attacks” led to some donors freezing funding – most notably the United States.

These recent claims that UNRWA added the black band directly in response to the death of Yahya Sinwar have prompted further accusations against the organisation – with some on social media calling it a “terrorist organisation” or an “arm of Hamas.” One viral post further insinuated that the UN itself is somehow affiliated with Hamas.

We looked at UNRWA pages across different social media platforms and there is a black band across the top left corner on their Facebook, X, and LinkedIn profile pictures.However, we also looked at archived screen captures of the same social media pages to see exactly when the change was made to the profile pictures. According to snapshots taken at different points earlier this year (pictured below in February 2024 and August 2024), it appears that UNRWA has had the black mourning band on their profiles long before the death of Sinwar.Using the archived web snapshots as reference, the black band first appeared on UNRWA profiles as early as 19 October 2023. UNRWA announced the death of 29 team members killed in Gaza several days later on 22 October.

A statement from UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma posted on X and the official website on 18 October has further asserted that the intent of the black band is to mourn UNRWA workers killed in Gaza. Touma further emphasised that the band was added in October 2023 and retained as the death toll continued – rising to 230 according to a recent update by the organisation.

Therefore, the claim that UNRWA added a black mourning band to their profiles in response to the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is untrue. All evidence from archived web pages points to the band being in place since October 2023 – a year before Sinwar’s death. We give this claim a rating of false.

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