UNRWA did not 'mourn' Hamas leader's death with black band

What is the claim? 

Viral screenshots of the social media profiles and website logo of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have been shared to claim a black band was added to mourn the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

A Facebook user shared the image with the caption, "UNRWA appears to be mourning the death of Yahya Sinwar. All UNRWA accounts added a black stripe to their profile. This is more evidence of the ongoing collaboration of UN agencies with the terrorist organizations." 

Similar claims can be viewed here and here. The viral claim on X (formerly Twitter) can be seen here, here, and here. 

Screenshots of the claims made online. (Source: Facebook/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

This claim surfaced after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers on October 16, 2024, in southern Gaza. The UNRWA is a United Nations agency that provides humanitarian aid for Palestinian refugees.

However, we found that the black band on UNRWA's logos predates Sinwar's death. The UNRWA also confirmed that the band was added in October 2023 to commemorate their staff killed in Gaza. It is unrelated to Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar's death.

What we found 

We accessed older versions of the UNRWA X account based in Gaza using the Wayback Machine, a tool that archives online content. The earliest appearance of the black band dates back to October 19, 2023. An older archived from October 8, 2023, shows the UNRWA logo without a black stripe. We also accessed a later archive of the Gaza-based UNRWA X account from October 1, 2024, which features the black band. 

The archive of UNRWA's X account from October 19, 2023, featuring the black band on their profile photo. (Source: Wayback Machine)

Another internet archive, Archive.today, corroborates that the black band on UNRWA's X account has been in use since October 2023. Older archives of the X profile can be viewed here. This confirms the black band predates Israel's attack on Gaza on October 16, 2024, which killed Sinwar.

We found that UNRWA's profile photo on Facebook with the black band (archived here) was first added on October 11, 2023. Similarly, the black band logo was added to the UNRWA Arabic page on October 11, 2023 (archived here). On the same day, October 11, 2023 (archived here), UNRWA released a statement mourning the deaths of its team members amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

Screenshot of the profile photo uploaded on October 11, 2023, to UNRWA's Arabic language page. (Source: Facebook)

The UNRWA Facebook and website archives can be accessed here and here, respectively. 

However, not all of UNRWA's social media accounts currently bear the black stripe on the logo. UNRWA USA (archive here) on X and UNRWA's Instagram (archive here) accounts do not have a black stripe on the logo. 

UNRWA's Director of External Communications, Tamara Alrifai, told Logically Facts, "UNRWA added a black ribbon to its logo on its different social media profiles and on our website on 22 October 2023, when we hit the tragic mark of 20 UNRWA colleagues killed." She added, "Even more tragic is that as of today, 232 UNRWA staff have been killed, so the black ribbon is still on." 

UNRWA's Communications Director, Juliette Touma, posted on X (archived here) saying the black ribbons were a "symbolic tribute" to 20 UNRWA team members killed in Gaza. 

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma's X post about the black band. (Source: X)

This confirms that the black band was added to the UNRWA logo in October 2023 after UNRWA staff were killed in the Israel-Hamas war. 

The verdict 

The black band on the UNRWA social media platforms has been in use since October 2023. It was not added recently and is unrelated to the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death.