The United Nations relief agency overseeing aid to Palestinian refugees, the U.N. Rights and Work Agency (UNRWA), deleted a social-media post on Monday morning accusing Hamas of stealing humanitarian supplies.
“@UNRWA received reports that yesterday a group of people with trucks purporting to be from the Ministry of Health of the de facto authorities in #Gaza, removed fuel and medical equipment from the Agency’s compound in #GazaCity,” the agency wrote on Monday morning without explicitly naming Hamas. “@UNRWA fuel & other types of material are kept for strictly humanitarian purposes – any other use is strongly condemned.”
However, hours after first publishing the note, UNWRA quietly deleted the message. Sources familiar with the situation confirmed to Haaretz, a left-leaning Israeli publication, that the story is accurate.
Did Hamas tell you to write that? At least screenshots are forever … so is your cowardice! pic.twitter.com/m5pK7douFd
— Arsen Ostrovsky 🎗️ (@Ostrov_A) October 16, 2023
Israeli officials were quick to flag that one of Gaza’s most influential humanitarian groups had sought to cover up Hamas pilfering aid intended for Palestinian civilians.
“Hamas stole fuel and medical equipment from UNRWA in Gaza. The amount of fuel stolen is enough to power Gaza’s water desalination facilities for six days,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote following the revelation. A similar note was released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry: “Wait @UNRWA – Did Hamas also break into your Twitter account? Or are you just scared of disappointing your terrorist friends?”
Following the embarrassing admission, UNRWA issued an “URGENT CLARIFICATION” on X, seeking to contextualize the now-deleted post. “With regards to reports on social media of looting of an UNRWA warehouse. UNRWA would like to confirm that no looting has taken place in any of its warehouses in the Gaza Strip,” the group wrote later Monday.
“The images circulating on social media were of a movement of basic medical supplies from the UNRWA warehouse to health partners.”
During various conflicts with Hamas, Israeli authorities have repeatedly called out the terrorist group’s exploitation and diversion of international aid. In 2016, an Israeli investigation into humanitarian resources sent to the Gaza Strip accused the terrorist outfit of stealing 95 percent of cement originally aimed at rebuilding civilian infrastructure.
“From our own investigations, we found that out of every 100 sacks of cement that come into the Gaza strip [from Israel], only five or six are transferred to civilians,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry director general Dore Gold told the U.N. World Humanitarian Summit at the time. “A hundred sacks is what is necessary to rebuild a home, the rest are confiscated by Hamas and used for military purposes.”
In response to those concerns, the Trump administration cut off aid to the UNRWA but the funding was resumed under President Biden.
Hamas has constructed what is unofficially dubbed as the “Gaza Metro,” an underground labyrinth of tunnels. The group claimed in 2021 to have built over 300 miles of such military infrastructure underneath the strip.