By: Jake Smith, Daily Caller News Foundation
A key UN office is requesting that over $1 billion in aid be provided to Gaza through “partner” organizations, some of which have been previously sanctioned for “working with terror groups,” according to a watchdog report exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (UN OCHA-oPt) coordinates humanitarian action within Gaza and the West Bank, and is currently requesting a $1.2 billion total appeal for roughly 80 partners, which includes non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and sister agencies at the UN, to deliver aid to the region. In some cases, aid handled by UN OCHA-oPt’s partner NGOs has ended up being “diverted” to Hamas for “terror purposes,” according to a report from NGO Monitor obtained by the DCNF.
“Many of these same UN agencies and NGOs were responsible for the hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Hamas systematically diverted for terror purposes – including for rockets and tunnels,” according to the NGO Monitor report. Some of these partners lobbied the U.S. and Europe to loosen regulations and standards surrounding the delivery of aid, thereby making it directly easier for it to be stolen.
“There is no evidence to support a conclusion that the UN agencies and NGOs have will and security capabilities to prevent further large-scale abuse by Hamas and other brutal terror actors in Gaza,” the NGO Monitor report reads. “The lack of transparency and the possibility that the grantees are problematic actors are concerning.”
“At least two of the NGO partners” were previously sanctioned for ties to terrorism; World Vision’s location in Israel was approved for disbandment by an Israeli court in 2023 over terrorism financing, one year after the organization’s Gaza manager, Mohammad El-Halabi, was convicted for his “active and significant part in the activities of Hamas,” according to the report. The second, Norwegian People’s Aid, reached a settlement in 2018 after being civilly accused of providing “material support” to Iran, Hamas and other Islamic terror organizations, according to the Department of Justice.
UN OCHA-oPt also noted in its $1.2 billion appeal that its first strategic objective is to protect the rights of Palestinians living under “occupation” and “blockade,” language commonly associated with “false allegations that Israel commits war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to the report. UN OCHA-oPt also made a request for $50 million in legal aid for the protection of Palestinians, which is often “exploited” by political NGOs as “lawfare” against Israel.
UN OCHA-oPt did not respond to a request for comment.
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