An analysis compiled by USAID officials examining more than 150 reported incidents involving the theft or loss of humanitarian aid funded by the United States in the Gaza Strip torn by the war, it found no evidence that Hamas – the militant leaders of the Palestinian enclave – engaged in the generalized diversion of aid, according to a presentation by ABC News.
The report’s conclusions seem to undermine the repeated statements of the Trump administration according to which Hamas has regularly interfered with the distribution of aid The controversy Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) And for the measures taken by Israel to limit the flow of assistance in neighboring Gaza through other paths.
The GHF – with the approval of Israel and despite the rejection of the United Nations – took control of the major part of the Gaza aid distribution system on May 27, after an 11 -week Israeli blockade on all supplies to enter the band. Israel has long accused Hamas of having stolen aid provided by the UN – formerly the main distributor – and others to finance its militant activity – says that Hamas denies.
Israel has granted a limited quantity of supplies to Gaza since the blockade lifting and, according to an Israeli security official, “coordinates future aidrops” by foreign countries “which should take place in the coming days”. It comes after a coalition of More than 100 organizations have warned This week, this “mass famine” spreads to Gaza with “supplies now completely exhausted”.
USAID officials behind the presentation said they had analyzed alleged incidents of fraud, abuse and waste reported between October 2023, when the War in the Course of Israel-Hamas began and last May. He was compiled in front of the American Agency for International Development (USAID) – once the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid – Officially independent operations July 1. The Trump administration has canceled more than 80% of the agency’s programs, while the others were absorbed by the US State Department.
USAID officials say that their conclusions indicate that in the majority of cases involving the loss of aid, the aggressor could not be definitively identified.
Somoud Wahdan looks at the camera as she sits with her child in an area in the north of Gaza Strip, while waiting for trucks with humanitarian aid to arrive in Gaza City on Friday, July 25, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Israeli defense forces have denied the report in a statement to ABC News, saying that “not only does the report ignore the clear and explicit evidence that Hamas exploits humanitarian aid to maintain its combat capacities, but it goes so far as to criticize the FDI for routing decisions taken specifically to protect humanitarian staff and expeditions.”
The FDIs added that when “directs the aid deliveries along the specific tracks, it is based on operational reality and intelligence assessments, aimed at protecting both aid and humanitarian actors – precisely the problem that the report is not addressed.”
The State Department also strongly repels the analysis, which was first reported by Reuters, as well as the media coverage linked to the issue.
A spokesperson for the State Department called “astonishing” that “the media are busy getting rid of the question of whether the brains of October 7 are somehow based on principles to plunder”.
“There is an endless video evidence of the looting of Hamas, not to mention the members of the Industrial Aid Complex who admitted that looting exists by signaling it as” self-distribution “, in a bad attempt to conceal aid corruption,” said the spokesperson. “The available information confirms what is reflected in open source information: that a large part of non-GHF aid trucks has been diverted, pillaged, stolen or” self-distributed “.” “”
Despite this, the Trump administration – an agitated ally of Israel – has provided no evidence that Hamas has made a general hijacking of aid to date.
The FDI said that it “made enormous efforts to allow the safe distribution of humanitarian aid in complex operational conditions”.
The current Gaza War broke out after Hamas led a surprise terrorist attack against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people there and taking 251 other hostages, according to figures from the Israeli government. Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 59,000 people in Gaza, according to data published by the Hamas Ministry of Health.
