Four killed in Israeli air strike on Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza
Several others were wounded in the attack, which hit a densely populated area already battered by months of bombing. Emergency workers continue to search through the rubble for survivors.
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Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
No proof Hamas stole Gaza aid, says USAID analysis
An internal US government analysis found no evidence of systematic theft by the Palestinian militant group Hamas of US-funded humanitarian supplies, challenging the main rationale that Israel and the US give for backing a new armed private aid operation. The analysis, which has not been previously reported, was conducted by a bureau within the US Agency for International Development and completed in late June. It examined 156 incidents of theft or loss of US-funded supplies reported by US aid partner organisations between October 2023 and this May. It found "no reports alleging Hamas' benefited from US-funded supplies, according to a slide presentation of the findings seen by Reuters. Disputing the statement A State Department spokesperson disputed the findings, saying there is video evidence of Hamas looting aid, but provided no such videos. The spokesperson also accused traditional humanitarian groups of covering up "aid corruption." The sons of Palestinian journalist Adam Abu Harbid, killed in overnight Israeli strikes, mourn before their father's funeral at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Thursday. AFP The findings were shared with the USAID's inspector general's office and State Department officials involved in Middle East policy, said two sources familiar with the matter, and come as dire food shortages deepen in the devastated enclave. Israel says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being stolen by Hamas, which it blames for the crisis. The UN World Food Programme says nearly a quarter of Gaza's 2.1 million Palestinians face famine-like conditions, thousands are suffering acute malnutrition, and the World Health Organization and doctors in the enclave report starvation deaths of children and others. The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food supplies, the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the new private aid group that uses a for-profit US logistics firm run by a former CIA officer and armed US military veterans. Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian journalist, Adam Abu Harbid, killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, outside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Friday. Reuters The study was conducted by the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) of USAID, which was the largest funder of assistance to Gaza before the Trump administration froze all US foreign aid in January, terminating thousands of programmes. It has also begun dismantling USAID, whose functions have been folded into the State Department. The analysis found that at least 44 of the 156 incidents where aid supplies were reported stolen or lost were "either directly or indirectly' due to Israeli military actions, according to the briefing slides. Israel's military did not respond to questions about those findings. The study noted a limitation: because Palestinians who receive aid cannot be vetted, it was possible that US-funded supplies went to administrative officials of Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza. Windows of the shuttered former offices of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington. Reuters One source familiar with the study also cautioned that the absence of reports of widespread aid diversion by Hamas "does not mean that diversion has not occurred.' The war in Gaza began after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli assault began, according to Palestinian health officials. Hamas steals aid to boost its finances, says Israel Israel, which controls access to Gaza, has said that Hamas steals food supplies from UN and other organizations to use to control the civilian population and boost its finances, including by jacking up the prices of the goods and reselling them to civilians. Asked about the USAID report, the Israeli military told Reuters that its allegations are based on intelligence reports that Hamas militants seized cargoes by "both covertly and overtly" embedding themselves on aid trucks. Those reports also show that Hamas has diverted up to 25% of aid supplies to its fighters or sold them to civilians, the Israeli military said, adding that GHF has ended the militants' control of aid by distributing it directly to civilians. Hamas denies the allegations. A Hamas security official said that Israel has killed more than 800 Hamas-affiliated police and security guards trying to protect aid vehicles and convoy routes. Their missions were coordinated with the UN. A man waves a Palestinian flag during the protest 'Global Pot-Banging for Gaza' in Guadalajara, Mexico on Thursday. AFP Reuters could not independently verify the claims by Hamas and Israel, which has not made public proof that the militants have systematically stolen aid. GHF also accuses Hamas of massive aid theft in defending its distribution model. The UN and other groups have rejected calls by GHF, Israel and the US to cooperate with the foundation, saying it violates international humanitarian principles of neutrality. In response to a request for comment, GHF referred Reuters to a July 2 Washington Post article that quoted an unidentified Gazan and anonymous Israeli officials as saying Hamas profited from the sales and taxing of pilfered humanitarian aid. Aid groups must report losses The 156 reports of theft or losses of supplies reviewed by BHA were filed by UN agencies and other humanitarian groups working in Gaza as a condition of receiving US aid funds. The second source familiar with the matter said that after receiving reports of US-funded aid thefts or losses, USAID staff followed up with partner organizations to try to determine if there was Hamas involvement. Those organizations also would "redirect or pause" aid distributions if they learned that Hamas was in the vicinity, the source said. Aid organizations working in Gaza also are required to vet their personnel, sub-contractors and suppliers for ties to extremist groups before receiving US funds, a condition that the State Department waived in approving $30 million for GHF last month. The slide presentation noted that USAID partners tended to over-report aid diversion and theft by groups sanctioned or designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations - such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad - because they want to avoid losing U.S. funding. Of the 156 incidents of loss or theft reported, 63 were attributed to unknown perpetrators, 35 to armed actors, 25 to unarmed people, 11 directly to Israeli military action, 11 to corrupt subcontractors, five to aid group personnel "engaging in corrupt activities,' and six to "others," a category that accounted for "commodities stolen in unknown circumstances,' according to the slide presentation. The armed actors "included gangs and other miscellaneous individuals who may have had weapons,' said a slide. Another slide said "a review of all 156 incidents found no affiliations with" US-designated foreign terrorist organizations, of which Hamas is one. "The majority of incidents could not be definitively attributed to a specific actor,' said another slide. "Partners often largely discovered the commodities had been stolen in transit without identifying the perpetrator.' It is possible there were classified intelligence reports on Hamas aid thefts, but BHA staff lost access to classified systems in the dismantlement of USAID, said a slide. However, a source familiar with US intelligence assessments told Reuters that they knew of no US intelligence reports detailing Hamas aid diversions and that Washington was relying on Israeli reports. The BHA analysis found that the Israeli military "directly or indirectly caused' a total of 44 incidents in which US-funded aid was lost or stolen. Those included the 11 attributed to direct Israeli military actions, such as airstrikes or orders to Palestinians to evacuate areas of the war-torn enclave. Losses indirectly attributed to Israeli military included cases where they compelled aid groups to use delivery routes with high risks of theft or looting, ignoring requests for alternative routes, the analysis said. Reuters
Middle East Eye
8 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Children in Gaza show signs of malnutrition and abuse after detention in Israel
Palestinian children released from Israeli prison have shown signs of malnutrition, according to testimony from former detainees. The Israeli army on Thursday released 10 teenage boys after detaining them for nearly a month. They had been captured at al-Shakoush aid distribution area in northwest Rafah. A reporter for Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, who saw the teens after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) transferred them to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said they bore signs of severe physical abuse and exhaustion. Karam Hamdi Hussein, one of those taken, said they were subjected to regular beatings and mistreatment while they were detained. 'We spent an entire month under constant beatings and daily humiliation,' he said. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters He added that a group of children was being held in Israel's notorious Sde Teiman prison, which has gained notoriety for its abuse of detainees. Al Jazeera also reported on Friday on the abuse released Palestinian detainees said they had received in custody. One prisoner who reached the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah was unable to move and showed visible signs of torture. He was seized from an aid area in the southern part of the enclave, and spoke of harsh conditions in Israel military camps. Starvation in Gaza: Dizziness, fatigue and people collapsing in the streets Read More » 'They electrocuted us and threw grenades at us,' said Asfour, who was arrested while trying to get food. 'We were under torture for a whole month." As of May, the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office said the total number of Palestinians detained at some point since the start of the war on 7 October 2023 is above 12,000. Despite Thursday's releases, thousands of Palestinians from Gaza are still detained. At least 44 people have died in prison, the office added. The release of detainees comes as Gaza continues to suffer widespread famine as a result of Israel's blockade of the enclave. With basic food items vanishing from markets and families enduring days without enough to survive, scenes of people collapsing from hunger and sheer exhaustion have become increasingly common across Gaza's streets. Eyewitnesses have recounted the gruesome scenes to Middle East Eye reporters in Gaza.
Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel claims killing Hamas commander in northern Gaza
Israeli military has said that it killed Amjad Muhammad Hassan Shaer, whom it identified as the head of the counterintelligence directorate in the general security apparatus of Hamas, in an air strike in northern Gaza on Wednesday. The statement by the Israeli forces claimed that the directorate is responsible for 'suppressing opposition to Hamas' rule, thwarting espionage against the terrorist organisation, and securing senior officials and assets of the terrorist organisation within the Gaza Strip and outside of it'. It added that Israeli warplanes have bombed areas across Gaza 'dozens of times' over the past 24 hours, in addition to ground attacks across the enclave. Earlier in the day, the death toll from Israeli attacks stood at 11.
