USAID, Reuters dismiss mountain of evidence showing Hamas steals humanitarian aid

The study’s acknowledgment of severe limitations, combined with extensive documentation of Hamas aid diversion from multiple sources, raises serious questions about the reliability of its findings.

A deeply flawed US government analysis, published by Reuters on Friday, astonishingly concluded there was no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian supplies. This finding directly contradicts overwhelming evidence and testimony, raising serious questions about the report’s methodology and its challenge to the rationale for Israeli and US backing of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The critical flaw? This unsound analysis conspicuously ignored a mountain of evidence demonstrating systematic aid theft by Hamas throughout the 600-plus-day war.

The USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance study, completed in late June and first reported by Reuters on Friday, examined 156 incidents of theft or loss reported by aid partners between October 2023 and May 2025. The analysis concluded there were “no reports alleging Hamas” benefited from US-funded supplies.

However, the study’s own acknowledgment of severe limitations, combined with extensive documentation of Hamas aid diversion from multiple sources, raises serious questions about the reliability of its findings.

Study’s acknowledged blind spots

The USAID analysis itself candidly identified several critical limitations that may explain why it failed to detect what Palestinians on the ground describe as systematic theft:

The study noted that because aid recipients cannot be vetted, supplies could have reached Hamas administrative officials without detection. Additionally, BHA staff lost access to classified intelligence systems during USAID’s recent dismantlement, potentially missing crucial intelligence reports on Hamas diversions.

Perhaps most significantly, the study relied entirely on self-reporting from aid organizations operating in what analysts describe as a “mafia-like” environment controlled by Hamas through violence and intimidation.

“No organization wants to admit it handed over some aid to terrorists or mafia gunmen,” noted a Jerusalem Post analysis in May. “But the organizations also know if they condemn Hamas, then they could be in danger.”

‘They’re criminals, like ISIS’

Just weeks before the USAID study was completed, Gaza residents were telling Israeli officials a dramatically different story. In recorded conversations released by the IDF, Palestinians described how Hamas systematically disrupts aid distribution to maintain control over supplies.

“They don’t want the people to receive aid, they want to foil the plan so that the aid will go to them, allowing them to steal it,” one Gaza resident told a Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) officer in May. “They live on the aid… they want aid to come in through the United Nations and international organizations so they can steal it… I swear to you, they’re criminals, like ISIS.”

Another civilian employed by World Central Kitchen provided direct testimony about theft: “When the supplies arrive, they try to steal.”

The testimonies also revealed the deadly consequences for Palestinians who attempt to bypass Hamas’s control. “They killed my cousin yesterday because he went to UNRWA,” one resident was recorded saying in a January conversation, referring to Hamas’s murder of civilians seeking aid outside their system.

In response to inquiries from The Jerusalem Post, the IDF reiterated the military’s coordination with humanitarian efforts while condemning Hamas’s exploitation of aid:

“The IDF operates, and will continue to operate, in accordance with the directives of the political echelon. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that starves the population and endangers it to maintain its rule in the Gaza Strip. Hamas does everything in its power to block humanitarian aid, directly harming Gazan civilians.”

The statement emphasized that the IDF has enabled the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to operate independently in distributing aid, while securing new distribution zones to facilitate orderly food deliveries, even as military operations continue. Since May 19, humanitarian transfers to Gaza have resumed through two primary channels: distribution centers run by the US-backed organization and UN-coordinated aid.

According to internal figures shared with the Post by military officials coordinating aid operations, nearly 4,500 humanitarian trucks have entered Gaza since May 19, split evenly between distribution centers and supplemental routes. These deliveries included 1.5 million weekly family food parcels, 2,500 tons of infant formula, and bulk supplies for bakeries and kitchens.

The GHF, established specifically to bypass Hamas control, has also faced severe retaliation. By June, GHF reported that 12 of its local staff had been murdered and others tortured. Hamas has repeatedly attacked GHF distribution sites, with witnesses reporting deliberate shooting at civilians attempting to collect aid.

‘The warehouse is at full capacity’

Israeli intelligence has also intercepted revealing Hamas communications. In September 2024, N12 broadcast that a Hamas terrorist was recorded discussing stolen humanitarian aid: “At this point, we have everything… The warehouse is at full capacity.”

Even Palestinian Authority officials have contradicted the USAID findings. In April 2025, PA President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Hamas for aid lootings in the Gaza Strip, with WAFA quoting a presidential statement saying that “it held Hamas-affiliated gangs primarily responsible.” Abbas emphasized that all of the looting gangs were “known to the Palestinian public and will top the blacklist to be held accountable and brought to justice in accordance with the law at the appropriate time.”

Aid crisis deepens as Israel disputes USAID findings

The urgency of the aid situation was underscored Thursday when UNICEF warned that “severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen.” The UN agency called for “unfettered aid access to children in need,” highlighting the devastating humanitarian impact of the ongoing crisis.

Yet the core question remains: why isn’t aid reaching those desperate children?

In a statement to thePost, David Mencer, spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, offered a starkly different explanation than the USAID report: “Israel facilitates thousands of aid trucks into Gaza, but we know from multiple intelligence and international sources that Hamas diverts between 30% and 50% of that aid for its own use.”

This assessment directly contradicts the USAID findings and aligns with testimonies from Gaza residents and Palestinian Authority officials. “They steal food, fuel, and medicine meant for civilians, hoard it in their tunnels, and sell it on the black market to fund their war machine,” Mencer added. “Hamas deliberately exploits the aid to starve their own people.”

The Israeli government’s position suggests that the malnutrition crisis UNICEF describes isn’t solely a matter of access, but rather a deliberate strategy by Hamas to weaponize humanitarian suffering – a claim supported by multiple Palestinian testimonies but notably absent from the USAID analysis.

Also notably absent was any mention of the increasing number of truckloads of aid waiting for the UN and other international aid groups on the Gaza side of the border.

The UN has blamed bureaucracy, but the GHF and the IDF have both separately attempted to offer solutions to the idling aid.

A narrow scope

While the USAID study noted “no reports alleging Hamas” stole US-funded aid within the confines of the 156 incidents it reviewed, this exceedingly narrow finding stands in stark contrast to the overwhelming and documented broader reality in Gaza.

The study’s acknowledged limitations – including inability to vet recipients, loss of classified intelligence access, and reliance on organizations with strong incentives not to report Hamas involvement – suggest its findings should be viewed as incomplete rather than definitive.

Yet despite these significant limitations, Reuters’ reporting on the study came with a definitive headline proclaiming “no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid” – a framing that obscures the report’s narrow scope and methodological constraints. This pattern of transforming qualified findings into absolute declarations reflects a troubling trend in coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, where complex realities are reduced to misleading soundbites.

“Reuters’ claim that there’s ‘no evidence’ Hamas has profited from aid ignores mounting documentation and misleads the public in ways that fuel both antisemitism and conflict.” Jacki Alexander, the Global CEO of media watchdog HonestReporting, told the Post. “This push to absolve Hamas only prolongs the war and endangers civilians.

“The media has a responsibility to report facts, not push narratives that shield terrorists and shift blame onto their victims.” She added.

As warnings of hunger mount in Gaza, the disconnect between the USAID report and the testimonies of Palestinians living under Hamas control highlights the challenges of delivering assistance in a territory where aid flows, but too often into the hands of terrorists rather than starving families.

Ultimately, for the civilians of Gaza, who risk their lives simply trying to access food aid, the academic question of whether Hamas’s systematic theft can be documented matters far less than the brutal reality they face attempting to get their next meal.