US demands UN agency investigate Hamas meddling in aid
The Washington Examiner reports that the U.S. State Department has called on the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to ensure its aid programs in Gaza are protected from suspected Hamas interference. Recent investigations revealed OCHA’s cooperation with Hamas-linked organizations to distribute humanitarian resources, with documents showing coordination with Hamas-controlled entities and restrictions imposed on survey questions to prevent exposing resistance members. Despite these findings, the State Department clarified that its funding isn’t directed specifically to Gaza operations, though it has allocated $3.8 billion to OCHA as december. OCHA maintains that its engagement with local groups doesn’t imply support or legitimacy for any political or armed groups, emphasizing adherence to humanitarian principles. The report also highlights concerns over Hamas’s influence within humanitarian efforts, referencing documents indicating discussions of “mutual cooperation” with Hamas and restrictions on aid-related surveys. Previous U.S. efforts to curb aid vulnerabilities, such as pausing certain Middle East programs and investigations into terrorist ties at related agencies like UNRWA, are noted. The U.S. government emphasizes strict oversight and vetting measures to prevent aid diversion to terrorist groups, with ongoing efforts to monitor and prevent misuse of assistance in gaza.
EXCLUSIVE — The State Department said the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs should ensure it is protecting Gaza aid programs from suspected Hamas meddling after reporting from the Washington Examiner.
OCHA is under fire after a Thursday Washington Examiner report exposed its years of cooperation with a Hamas-linked state agency to distribute humanitarian resources, based on documents obtained by the Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor. The State Department announced $3.8 billion in U.S. funding for OCHA since December, though a State Department spokesperson emphasized that it is not for the agency’s Gaza operations specifically.
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“While the Department of State is not funding UN OCHA in Gaza, we take these allegations seriously and expect OCHA to fully investigate,” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “These actions expose Hamas’ shameful use of civilian organizations to generate illicit financial support for its military wing.”
Translated documents and public materials show the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Social Development in Gaza discussing “mutual cooperation” with OCHA and coordinating with it from at least 2021 to 2025, NGO Monitor found. Other examples of meddling included Hamas’s security ministry dictating what survey questions OCHA partners could ask Gazans to determine who gets aid supplies, fearing that some questions might unmask “resistance” members, according to NGO Monitor’s translations.
OCHA did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. The agency previously said it denies “any suggestion that humanitarian assistance is delivered in cooperation with or for the benefit of Hamas.”
“Delivering aid in Gaza requires engagement with a range of local groups to reach civilians in need, but such engagement does not confer legitimacy on, support for, or partnership with any political or armed group,” the agency said. “The U.N. and our humanitarian partners operate under strict humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.”
Hamas’s current influence within humanitarian groups is uncertain. The Islamic organization has agreed to relinquish control of Gaza under President Donald Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan that the U.N. approved in November.
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Trump’s administration has paused certain Middle East aid programs after vulnerabilities allowed terrorist regimes such as Afghanistan’s Taliban to pocket U.S. resources. The U.N. previously suffered setbacks when Trump and former President Joe Biden froze funding for the U.N. Relief Works Agency, which Israeli and U.S. investigations found was employing terrorists involved in Hamas’s October 2023 massacre in Israel. The Israeli government demolished UNRWA’s East Jerusalem headquarters in January over its terrorist ties.
“U.S. government implementers and entities involved in the delivery of foreign assistance in Gaza are subject to various oversight measures which may include counterterrorism vetting, monitoring, and oversight procedures to prevent the diversion of U.S. assistance to, and its misuse or destruction by, Hamas and other terrorist and extremist entities,” the State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “Oversight continues to be a major priority for all Department funding for programs inside Gaza.”
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