An evaluation compiled by USAID officers inspecting greater than 150 reported incidents involving the theft or lack of U.S.-funded humanitarian help within the war-torn Gaza Strip says it failed to seek out any proof that Hamas — the militant rulers of the Palestinian enclave — engaged in widespread diversion of help, in response to a presentation reviewed by ABC Information.
The findings of the report seem to undercut the Trump administration’s repeated claims that Hamas has usually interfered with help distribution up to now — assertions it has used to justify its help for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and for measures undertaken by Israel to restrict the circulation of help to neighboring Gaza by way of different pathways.
The GHF — with Israel’s approval and regardless of rejection from the United Nations — took over many of the help distribution system in Gaza on Might 27, after an 11-week Israeli blockade on all provides from coming into the strip. Israel has lengthy accused Hamas of stealing help offered by the U.N. — previously the primary distributor — and others to fund its militant exercise — claims which Hamas denies.
Israel has allowed a restricted quantity of provides into Gaza since lifting the blockade and, in response to an Israeli safety official, is “coordinating future airdrops of help” by international nations “which might be anticipated to happen within the coming days.” This comes after a coalition of more than 100 organizations warned this week that “mass hunger” is spreading in Gaza with “provides now completely depleted.”
USAID officers behind the presentation say they analyzed alleged incidents of fraud, abuse and waste reported between October 2023, when the continuing Israel-Hamas struggle started, and final Might. It was compiled earlier than the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) — as soon as the world’s largest single donor of humanitarian help — officially ceased independent operations on July 1. The Trump administration canceled greater than 80% of the company’s packages, whereas the rest have been absorbed by the U.S. Division of State.
USAID officers say their findings point out that within the majority of instances involving the lack of help, the perpetrator couldn’t be definitively recognized.
Somoud Wahdan appears on the digicam as she sits along with her little one in an space within the northern Gaza Strip, whereas ready for vans with humanitarian help to reach, in Gaza Metropolis, Friday, July 25, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
The Israel Protection Forces denied the report in a press release to ABC Information, saying “not solely does the report ignore clear and express proof that Hamas exploits humanitarian help to maintain its combating capabilities, it goes as far as to criticize the IDF for routing selections made particularly to guard humanitarian employees and shipments.”
The IDF added that when it “directs help deliveries alongside particular routes, it’s based mostly on the operational actuality and intelligence assessments, geared toward safeguarding each the help and the humanitarian actors — exactly the problem the report claims isn’t being addressed.”
The State Division can be pushing again forcefully on the evaluation, which was first reported by Reuters, in addition to media protection associated to the matter.
A State Division spokesperson referred to as it “astonishing” that “the media is busy debating whether or not the masterminds of Oct. 7 are someway too principled to loot.”
“There’s infinite video proof of Hamas looting, to not point out members of the aid-industrial advanced who’ve admitted that looting exists by reporting it as ‘self-distribution,’ in a poor try at an help corruption coverup,” the spokesperson stated. “Accessible intelligence confirms what’s mirrored in open-source data: that a good portion of non-GHF help vans have been diverted, looted, stolen, or ‘self-distributed.'”
Regardless of this, the Trump administration — a staunch ally of Israel — has offered no proof of Hamas finishing up widespread help diversion to this point.
The IDF stated it’s “making super efforts to allow the protected distribution of humanitarian help below advanced operational circumstances.”
The continuing Gaza struggle erupted after Hamas led a shock terror assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 individuals there and taking 251 others hostage, in response to figures from the Israeli authorities. Since then, Israeli forces have killed greater than 59,000 individuals in Gaza, in response to information launched by the strip’s Hamas-run Ministry of Well being.
