Latest news with #GeorgiosPetropoulos
Middle East Eye
3 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli officers say Hamas didn't steal UN aid, contradicting blockade claim
Two senior Israeli army officers have told The New York Times there is no evidence that Hamas looted UN humanitarian aid in Gaza, undermining a central Israeli justification for severely restricting food deliveries to over two million people and driving the population towards famine. The unnamed officers, along with two other Israeli officials involved in aid monitoring, admitted the UN's aid distribution system, long disparaged by Israel, was in fact 'largely effective in providing food to Gaza's desperate and hungry population.' 'For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid,' NYT reported, noting these unproven claims were used to justify policies that pushed Gaza's population towards starvation by blocking humanitarian supplies. 'There was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid,' one official told the paper. Georgios Petropoulos, the UN humanitarian coordinator who liaised with Israeli authorities during the war, condemned the smear campaign: New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters 'For months, we and other organisations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us,' he said. The Times' reporting marks a significant reversal from its earlier coverage, which largely echoed Israeli talking points that painted Hamas as hijacking aid. The paper has long faced accusations of systemic pro-Israel bias, with nearly two dozen top editors and reporters linked to pro-Israel advocacy groups. This latest revelation reinforces what critics and humanitarian groups have insisted for months: there was no organised Hamas theft of international aid. US probe found no evidence Hamas diverted aid Earlier this week, Reuters revealed an internal US government review, carried out by a bureau of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), found no proof that Hamas systematically diverted US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza. The investigation covered 156 reports of theft or loss of US aid from October 2023 to May 2025 and concluded there were 'no reports alleging Hamas' gained from the aid. Israeli 'thugs' board Gaza-bound aid ship Handala in international waters Read More » Instead, 44 of those cases were directly or indirectly blamed on Israeli forces, including 11 linked to air strikes and others tied to military-imposed delivery routes known to be vulnerable to looting. The USAID findings further discredit the Israeli claims that helped justify the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a mechanism backed by both Israel and the US but rejected by the UN and international aid groups for violating neutrality principles. The UN reports that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to collect aid, most of them near GHF distribution zones, which are heavily militarised. Since 2 March, Israel's siege has prevented UN and partner agencies from delivering humanitarian supplies to Gaza, pushing the population to the edge of famine. The Palestinian health ministry says at least 115 people, including 80 children, have died of starvation since then, 15 of them on Monday alone. Israel's assault on Gaza has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians and wounded over 142,000 others since October 2023.
Middle East Eye
3 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli officers say no proof Hamas stole UN aid in Gaza
Two senior Israeli army officers have told The New York Times there is no evidence that Hamas looted UN humanitarian aid in Gaza – directly contradicting a key justification used by the Israeli government to block food deliveries for months to more than two million people. The unnamed officers, along with two other Israeli officials involved in aid oversight, said the UN's aid distribution mechanism, long criticised by Israel, was in fact 'largely effective in providing food to Gaza's desperate and hungry population.' 'For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid,' the Times reported, noting that this accusation has been repeatedly cited by the Israeli government as the reason for pushing Gaza's besiged population towards famine and restricting humanitarian supplies. However, the officials admitted, 'there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid.' Georgios Petropoulos, who coordinated UN humanitarian efforts with Israeli authorities during the war, voiced frustration over the long-standing accusations. 'For months, we and other organisations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us,' Petropoulos said.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
No proof Hamas routinely stole UN aid, Israeli military officials say
Now, with hunger at crisis levels in the territory, Israel is coming under increased international pressure over its conduct of the war in Gaza and the humanitarian suffering it has brought. Doctors in the territory say that an increasing number of their patients are suffering from -- and dying of -- starvation. More than 100 aid agencies and rights groups warned this past week of 'mass starvation' and implored Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian assistance. The European Union and at least 28 governments, including Israeli allies like Britain, France, and Canada, issued a joint statement condemning Israel's 'drip-feeding of aid' to Gaza's 2 million Palestinian residents. Advertisement Israel has largely brushed off the criticism. David Mencer, a government spokesperson, said this past week that there was 'no famine caused by Israel.' Instead, he blamed Hamas and poor coordination by the United Nations for any food shortages. Advertisement Israel moved in May toward replacing the UN-led aid system that had been in place for most of the 21-month war in Gaza, opting instead to back a private, American-run operation guarded by armed US contractors in areas controlled by Israeli military forces. Some aid still comes into Gaza through the United Nations and other organizations. The new system has proved to be much deadlier for Palestinians trying to obtain food handouts. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, almost 1,100 people have been killed by gunfire on their way to get food handouts under the new system, in many cases by Israeli soldiers who opened fire on hungry crowds. Israeli officials have said they fired shots in the air in some instances because the crowds came too close or endangered their forces. The military officials who spoke to The New York Times said that the original UN aid operation was relatively reliable and less vulnerable to Hamas interference than the operations of many of the other groups bringing aid into Gaza. That's largely because the United Nations managed its own supply chain and handled distribution directly inside Gaza. Hamas did steal from some of the smaller organizations that donated aid, as those groups were not always on the ground to oversee distribution, according to the senior Israeli officials and others involved in the matter. But, they say, there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid. A Hamas representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An internal US government analysis came to a similar conclusion, Reuters reported Friday. It found no evidence of systematic Hamas theft of US-funded humanitarian supplies, the report said. Advertisement 'For months, we and other organizations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us,' said Georgios Petropoulos, a former UN official in Gaza who oversaw aid coordination with Israel for nearly 13 months of war. The senior military officials and others interviewed by the Times spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the military or government. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement, the military said that it has been 'well documented' that Hamas has routinely 'exploited humanitarian aid to fund terrorist activities.' But the military did not dispute the assessment that there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole aid from the United Nations. The Israeli government and military have often clashed over how to conduct the war in Gaza. Early last year, top commanders urged a cease-fire with Hamas to secure the release of hostages. Netanyahu's government instead expanded the ground operation in southern Gaza. Israel used the rationale that Hamas steals aid when it cut off all food and other supplies to Gaza between March and May. In March, after a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel collapsed, Netanyahu said: 'Hamas is currently taking control of all supplies and goods entering Gaza,' and he declared that Israel would prevent anything from entering the territory. That blockade, and problems with a new aid system that launched in May, brought hunger and starvation in Gaza to the current crisis levels. For most of the war, the UN was the largest single source of aid entering Gaza, according to data from the Israeli military unit that oversees policy in the territory. Advertisement Now, the new aid system is managed instead by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private American company led by a former CIA agent. It was intended to eventually replace international aid organizations and the UN role. But it has only a few distribution hubs, compared with hundreds under the former UN-run operation. The new system's rollout at the end of May was quickly followed by near-daily episodes of deadly violence near distribution sites. Desperate and hungry Palestinians must go to the few aid distribution sites located in areas controlled by Israeli forces. The hours of operation are limited and supplies run out, so crowds arrive early, with some walking for miles to get there. Since May 19, when Israel allowed emergency supplies to resume entering Gaza after its two-month blockade, half of the aid has been distributed by the United Nations and international organizations, with the other half coming through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israeli military says. Petropoulos welcomed the notion that some Israeli officials had recognized the UN-led aid system as effective during the war. But he said he wished that endorsement had come much sooner. 'If the UN had been taken at face value months ago, we wouldn't have wasted all this time and Gazans wouldn't be starving and being shot at trying to feed their families,' he said. This article originally appeared in
