Some Palestinian groups are calling on the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency’s regional leader to leave Gaza, prompting the UN to fight back. 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), supports Palestinian refugees from the Israel-Palestine war of 1947-48 and their descendants. One area in which UNRWA operates is the Gaza Strip, which is controlled internally by Hamas. Israel engaged in an 11-day conflict with Hamas and other Gaza-based groups last month. 

There have been several threats against UNRWA recently, according to Hamas-affiliated media. On May 26, Palestinian “resistance” factions called the head of UNRWA’s Gaza operations, Matthias Schmale, a “supporter of the Zionist enemy’s crimes” The factions called for him to be removed from his position, the Safa news outlet reported. 

A group of Palestinian refugees in Gaza likewise demanded Wednesday that Schmale resign and leave the Palestinian territories, saying he has “positioned himself as an analyst and military spokesman for the Zionist army.” They also accused Schmale and his deputy David de Bold of failing to sufficiently support displaced Gazans whose homes were destroyed by the Israeli military, according to Safa.