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Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-862210
USAID Dismisses Mountain of Evidence Showing Hamas Steals Humanitarian Aid
(Jerusalem Post) Ezra Taylor - A deeply flawed U.S. government analysis, published by Reuters on Friday, astonishingly concluded there was no evidence of systematic theft by Hamas of U.S.-funded humanitarian supplies. This analysis conspicuously ignored a mountain of evidence demonstrating systematic aid theft by Hamas. The U.S. 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. "The organizations also know if they condemn Hamas, then they could be in danger." "They [Hamas] live on the aid...they want aid to come in through the United Nations and international organizations so they can steal it," one Gaza resident told an IDF Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) officer in May. A civilian employed by World Central Kitchen confirmed: "When the supplies arrive, they try to steal." David Mencer, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, said: "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. 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."