By: Jason Cohen, Daily Caller News Foundation
An elderly Palestinian woman accused terrorist group Hamas for stealing all of the aid meant for Gaza in an interview with Al-Jazeera, appearing to catch the reporter off guard.
The Al-Jazeera reporter put forward that aid is not entering Gaza, but the woman argued that was false and that Hamas steals everything that enters, according to subtitle translations of the interview posted by the Middle East Media Research Institute on Thursday. President Joe Biden announced in October that the United States would give $100 million in aid to the West Bank and Gaza days after Hamas took humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees, according to the Times of Israel.
“The situation is difficult,” the reporter stated. “No aid is coming in.”
“All the aid goes to [the tunnels] underground,” the elderly woman responded. “It does not reach all the people … Hamas takes everything to their homes. They can take me, shoot me, or do whatever they want to me.”
The reporter then asserted that the circumstances seemed uncertain and appeared to suddenly terminate the interview.
Biden announced in November that the United States is surging the amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza to assist Palestinian civilians.
“Let me be clear, if Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, and it will end,” Biden stated in October. “As a practical matter, it will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) internal watchdog warned in a November alert that there is a significant threat of aid diversion to Hamas.
“USAID has identified this area as high-risk for potential diversion and misuse of U.S.-funded assistance,” the USAID Office of the Inspector General (OIG) stated.
