USAID analysis found no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid

TimesLIVE

5 days ago

The organisations would 'redirect or pause' aid distributions if they learnt Hamas was in the vicinity, the source said. Aid organisations working in Gaza are required to vet their personnel, subcontractors and suppliers for ties to extremist groups before receiving US funds, a condition the state department waived in approving $30m (R532.2m) for the GHF last month.
The slide presentation noted USAID partners tended to over-report aid diversion and theft by groups sanctioned or designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, because they want to avoid losing US funding.
Of the 156 incidents of loss or theft reported, 63 were attributed to unknown perpetrators, 35 to armed actors, 25 to unarmed people, 11 directly to Israeli military action, 11 to corrupt subcontractors, five to aid group personnel 'engaging in corrupt activities' and six to 'others', a category that accounted for 'commodities stolen in unknown circumstances', according to the slide presentation.
The armed actors 'included gangs and other miscellaneous individuals who may have had weapons', said a slide. Another slide said 'a review of all 156 incidents found no affiliations with' US-designated foreign terrorist organisations, of which Hamas is one.
'Most incidents could not be definitively attributed to a specific actor,' said another slide.
'Partners often largely discovered the commodities had been stolen in transit without identifying the perpetrator.'
It is possible there were classified intelligence reports on Hamas aid thefts, but BHA staff lost access to classified systems in the dismantlement of USAID, said a slide.
However, a source familiar with US intelligence assessments told Reuters they knew of no US intelligence reports detailing Hamas aid diversions and Washington was relying on Israeli reports.
The BHA analysis found the Israeli military 'directly or indirectly caused' 44 incidents in which US-funded aid was lost or stolen. These included the 11 attributed to direct Israeli military actions, such as air strikes or orders to Palestinians to evacuate areas of the war-torn enclave.
Losses indirectly attributed to Israeli military included cases where they compelled aid groups to use delivery routes with high risks of theft or looting, ignoring requests for alternative routes, the analysis said.