Dozens of people protested outside the Beirut office of the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) on Wednesday after it put a staff member on administrative leave over possible violations of staff conduct regulations.
School teacher Fathi al-Sharif was put on leave for three months without pay as the UN agency investigated alleged activities "that are in violation of the Agency's regulatory framework governing staff conduct," the agency told Reuters in a statement.
UNRWA said it could not discuss further details. It did not say whether he was accused of membership of an armed group.
Sharif spoke at the protest on Wednesday, where a crowd had gathered to support him. Several people told Reuters that he had been accused of links to Hamas.
"The job can go, and we will stay!" he told those gathered.
Israeli official says Israel would strop working with UNRWA in Gaza
UNRWA, which provides essential services, including education and health to Palestinian refugees across the region, has been in crisis.
Israel informed the UN that it will no longer approve UNRWA food convoys to the north of Gaza, where famine is possible by May, according to a UN-backed report published last week. An Israeli government spokesman said on Monday Israel would stop working with UNRWA altogether in Gaza.
Earlier this year, Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees in the Gaza Strip of taking part in Hamas's October 7 massacre that left 1,200 people dead, with more than 130 still held hostage by the terror organization.
Israel's allegations prompted a suspension of funding by more than a dozen donors, many of whom have resumed funding.
They also sparked an investigation by a UN oversight body and a separate review process by UNRWA, which its Lebanon representative Dorothee Klaus told Reuters would examine safeguards protecting its neutrality and independence.
She said she expected her branch of the agency would be consulted in a possible review of whether staff in Lebanon were affiliated with armed groups.