USAID report rejects alleged theft of humanitarian aid by Hamas

The analysis by USAID has dismissed the repeated claims by Donald Trump’s administration that Hamas interfered with aid distribution in Gaza, the pretext used to justify the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), yet intensifying the situation for more than two million people suffering starvation.

The analysis, conducted by a bureau within the USAID in late June, examined 156 incidents of theft or loss of US-funded supplies reported by US aid partner organizations between October 2023 and this May.

It found “no reports alleging Hamas” benefited from US-funded supplies, according to a slide presentation of the findings.

The analysis found that at least 44 of the 156 incidents where aid supplies were reported stolen or lost were “either directly or indirectly” due to Israeli military actions.

The GHF, despite rejection from the United Nations, took over the aid distribution system in Gaza after nearly three months of Israeli blockade on all supplies from entering the strip.

Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid provided by the U.N., formerly the main distributor, and others to fund its resistance activity, claims repeatedly and firmly rejected by the Palestinian resistance movement.

The findings challenge a justification used by Israel and the US to support a private aid initiative that bypasses the UN system despite the oppositions by the international body.

The UN estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food supplies, the majority near the militarized distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The regime has so far killed more than 59,000 people and injured over 144,000 others, most of them women and children.