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New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani spent Sunday evening raising money for a United Nations organization that employed terrorists on October 7, just hours before the last living Israeli hostages were released from Hamas captivity.
Mamdani participated in the NYC Gaza 5K, a fundraiser for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The organization was found guilty of employing terrorists in Gaza who participated in the October 7 massacre in Israel. Mamdani’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
“This morning I ran the NYC Gaza 5K in Prospect Park for the third time, alongside the Harlem Run Club, to raise money for UNRWA USA, which provides humanitarian aid and essential services to Palestinians in Gaza,” Mamdani wrote on social media.
“I hope you will join me in donating,” he added.
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New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani raised money for UNRWA by participating in the NYC Gaza 5k in the city on Sunday, October 12. (X/@ZohranKMamdani)
Mamdani included a donation link allowing her followers to send money to UNRWA.
The State Department issued a devastating report to Congress on UNRWA in August, determining that the agency must be abolished and cannot be reformed. UNRWA’s stated goal is to provide aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the report says the organization “is irreparably compromised.”
According to the State Department document, the Trump administration demanded in March 2025 that UNRWA “return to its accounts all unspent balances of U.S. funding.” UNRWA’s office in Washington said it would do so, “but has not yet completed the action.” In May, the State Department said it was working “to end U.S. participation in all operational bodies of UNRWA” at the United Nations.
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Democratic candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to supporters at a poll kickoff event in Prospect Park on Sunday, August 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)
The U.S. government ended funding for UNRWA in January 2024 and has not resumed aid to the agency. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision calling for the complete dissolution of UNRWA has added a new layer of pressure on the UN and major donor countries to UNRWA, such as Japan and Germany, to reassess UNRWA’s viability.
The Biden administration had given UNRWA $1 billion to US taxpayers funding since 2021 before the freeze comes into force in 2024.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in February 2024 that dozens of people employed by UNRWA were directly involved in atrocities committed against Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the UN in January that UNRWA must end its operations in Jerusalem.
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In August 2024, Fox News Digital reported UN fires nine employees of UNRWA who probably participated in the massacre by Hamas of 1,200 people, including more than 30 Americans, on October 7 in southern Israel.
Benjamin Weinthal of Fox News contributed to this report.
