The recognition of the study of serious limitations, combined with extensive documentation by Hamas Aid Diversion from several sources, raises serious questions about the reliability of the findings.
A deeply defective US government analysis, published by Reuters On Friday, amazingly enough concluded that there was no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of humanitarian supplies funded by the US. This finding is directly in contradiction with overwhelming evidence and testimony and raises serious questions about the methodology of the report and its challenge for the reason for Israeli and American support from the Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The critical error? This defective analysis strikingly ignored a mountain of evidence that demonstrated systematic auxiliary theft by Hamas during the 600-Plus-Day war.
The USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance Study, completed at the end of June and first reported by Reuters on Friday, investigated 156 incidents of theft or loss reported by AID partners between October 2023 and May 2025.
However, the own recognition of the study of serious limitations, in combination with extensive documentation by Hamas Aid Diversion from multiple sources, raises serious questions about the reliability of the findings.
The recognized blind spots of the study
The USAID analysis itself identified frankly various critical limitations that could explain why it could not detect what Palestinians describe on the spot as systematic theft:
The study noted that because AID receivers cannot be screened, the stocks without detection could have reached the administrative officials of Hamas. In addition, BHA employees lost access to classified intelligence systems during the recent dismantling of USAID, which may miss crucial intelligence reports on Hamas.
A person leaves flowers, in addition to a USAID board covered at the headquarters of the Bureau in Washington, USA, 7 February 2025. (Credit: Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Perhaps the most important thing is that the study was completely dependent on self-reporting from aid organizations that are active in what analysts describe as a “mafia-like” environment that is controlled by violence and intimidation.
“No organization wants to admit that it has handed over some help to terrorists or Mafia shooters,” one noticed Jerusalem Post Analysis in May. “But the organizations also know if they condemn Hamas, then they can be in danger.”
'They are criminals, such as Isis'
Just a few weeks before the USAID study was completed, the inhabitants of Gaza told the Israeli officials a dramatically different story. In recorded conversations released by the IDF, Palestinians described how Hamas systematically disrupts the aid distribution to maintain control of supplies.
“They don't want people to receive help, they want to thwart the plan so that the help will go to them, so they can steal it,” a resident of Gaza told a coordinator of government activities in the Territoria (Cogat) officer in May. “They live on the help … they want help coming in through the United Nations and international organizations so that they can steal it … I swear, they are criminals, such as Isis.”
Another citizen employed by World Central Kitchen immediately gave a testimony about theft: “When the supplies arrive, they try to steal.”
The testimonials also revealed the fatal consequences for Palestinians who try to circumvent Hamas control. “They killed my cousin yesterday because he went to UNRWA,” a resident was admitted to a conversation in January, referring to Hamas's murder of citizens looking for help outside their system.
Palestinian Hamas terrorists keep guarded on the day Hamas passed away hostages in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip 20 February 2025. (Credit: Reuters/Hatem Khaled/File photo)
In response to questions from The Jerusalem Postthe IDF repeated the coordination of the army with humanitarian efforts, while convicting Hamas's exploitation of help:
“The IDF works and will continue to operate, in accordance with the guidelines of the political echelon. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that starves the population and endangers it to maintain his rule in the Gaza Strip. Hamas does everything in his power to block humanitarian aid, directly damage to Gazan citizens.”
The explanation emphasized that the IDF has enabled the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation supported by the US to operate independently in distributing help, while securing new distribution zones to facilitate orderly food deliveries even if military operations continue. Since 19 May, humanitarian transfers have resumed to Gaza through two primary channels: distribution centers run by the US-supported organization and non-coordinated help.
According to internal figures shared with the After By military officials who coordinate aid activities, almost 4,500 humanitarian trucks have entered Gaza since 19 May, evenly divided between distribution centers and additional routes. These deliveries include 1.5 million weekly family packages, 2500 tons of baby formula and bulk supplies for bakeries and kitchens.
The GHF, specifically determined to bypass Hamas check, has also had to deal with serious retribution. In June, GHF reported that 12 of his local staff had been murdered and others were tortured. Hamas has repeatedly attacked GHF distribution sites, with witnesses who report deliberate shootings on citizens who try to collect help.
'The warehouse is at full capacity'
Israeli intelligence has also intercepted Hamas Communications. In September 2024, N12 broadcasts that a Hamas terrorist was admitted to discussing stolen humanitarian help: “We currently have everything … The warehouse is at full capacity.”
Even Palestinian authority officers have contradicted the findings of the USAID. In April 2025, Pa President Mahmoud Abbas Hamas blamed for looting for help in the Gaza Strip, in which Wafa quoted a presidential statement that said that “the Hamas-Lied gangs held mainly responsible.” Abbas emphasized that all looting gangs 'were known to the Palestinian public and the black list will be held responsible at the top and will be brought to the court at the right time in accordance with the law'.
Auxiliary crisis is deepened as Israel disputes the findings of the USAID
The urgency of the aid situation was underlined on Thursday when UNICEF warned that “serious malnutrition spreads among children faster than the help can reach them, and the world sees it happen.” The UN agency called for “unobstructed auxiliary access to children in need”, which emphasizes the devastating humanitarian impact of the current crisis.
Yet the key question remains: why doesn't help achieve those desperate children?
In a statement to theAfterDavid Mencer, spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office, offered a grim statement other than the USAID report: “Israel facilitates thousands of auxiliary cars to Gaza, but we know from multiple information and international sources that Hamas distributes between 30% and 50% of that help for his own use.”
This assessment is directly in contradiction with the findings of the USAID and corresponds to testimonies from residents of Gaza and officials of the Palestinian authority. “They steal food, fuel and medicines intended for citizens, hoard in their tunnels and sell it on the black market to finance their war machine,” Mencer added. “Hamas deliberately uses the help to starve their own people.”
The position of the Israeli government suggests that the malnutrition crisis describes UNICEF is not only a matter of access, but rather a deliberate strategy of Hamas to arm humanitarian suffering – a claim that is supported by several Palestinian testimonies but in particular absent in the USAID analysis.
Also absent in particular was some mention of the increasing number of truck loads of help waiting for the UN and other international aid groups on the Gaza side of the border.
The UN has blamed for bureaucracy, but the GHF and the IDF have both tried to offer solutions for stationary aid separately.
Packages of humanitarian aid awaiting the transfer to Gaza, on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing in the Gaza Strip, July 24, 2025 (Credit: Amir Cohen/Reuters)
A narrow scope
Although the USAID study noted: “No reports about Hamas” stable assisted help within the limits of the 156 incidents that it rated, this extremely scary finding is in stark contrast to the overwhelming and documented wider reality in Gaza.
The recognized limitations of the study – including the inability to recover recipients, loss of classified intelligence access and dependence on organizations with strong incentives in order not to report Hamas' involvement – suggest that the findings must be considered incomplete instead of definitive.
Despite these important limitations, Reuters's report on the study came up with a definitive head that stated “no evidence of massive Hamas -theft of Gaza Aid” – a framework that darkens the scary scope and methodological limitations of the report. This pattern of transforming qualified findings into absolute statements reflects a disturbing trend in the cover of the conflict of Israel-Hamas, where complex realities are reduced to misleading sound bites.
“The claim of Reuters that there is” no evidence “Hamas has benefited from help ignores the increasing documentation and misleads the audience in a way that feeds both anti -Semitism and conflict.” Jacki Alexander, the worldwide CEO of Media Watchdog Honestreporting, said the After. “This urge to relieve Hamas, only extends the war and endangers citizens.
“The media have the responsibility to report facts, do not push stories that protect terrorists and shift the fault of their victims.” She added.
As warnings from Hunger Mount in Gaza, the decoupling between the USAID report and the testimonials of Palestinians who live under Hamas control the challenges of providing assistance in a territory where help flows, but too often in the hands of terrorists instead of renowned families.
Ultimately, for the citizens of Gaza, who risk their lives, simply try to access food aid, the academic question of whether Hamas's systematic theft is much less documented than the brutal reality with which they are confronted to get their next meal.
