Hamas ‘formally placed bounties’ on Americans while demanding ‘that any ceasefire deal in Gaza must end GHF’s operations,’ cable states
Hamas has placed active bounties on American aid workers in Gaza and has demanded that the United States cease all humanitarian operations as a ceasefire condition, according to a State Department cable obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Hamas, the State Department disclosed in a June 30 cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, has “formally placed bounties” on U.S. and Palestinian workers with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a joint U.S.-Israeli aid effort formed in February to replace the Hamas-friendly United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The bounties imperil “Palestinian workers and the U.S. security contractors helping to protect the GHF distribution sites,” the cable reads.
The cable, marked “sensitive but unclassified,” confirms a Free Beacon report from June outlining Hamas’s plans to attack American aid distribution centers and pull the United States into direct conflict with Palestinian militant factions. The embassy sent the cable over the State Department’s internal system shortly before Hamas injured two American workers in a Saturday terror attack on a food distribution outpost in Gaza’s Khan Younis neighborhood.
The American security contractors working at GHF aid sites “are part of a group called SRS and made up of decorated veterans,” according to the cable. “Unfortunately, the U.N., NGOs, and various other countries that frequently and falsely rush to delegitimize Israel and/or GHF have not strongly condemned Hamas’s malign actions against GHF staff, including Palestinians, nor the bounties for the murder of GHF workers and American security personnel.”
The revelation comes amid discussions over whether the United States and Israel will include a return to U.N.-organized aid distribution as part of any ceasefire deal between the Jewish state and Hamas. The Jerusalem Post on Monday reported that aid distribution is a final sticking point in the negotiations.
The State Department cable confirms that Hamas “made a recent demand that any ceasefire deal in Gaza must end GHF’s operations and return to the prior process of distributing assistance in Gaza to Hamas’s benefit,” primarily through UNRWA and other U.N.-affiliated aid groups known to work with the terror organization.
A senior U.S. official familiar with the proposal, though, told the Free Beacon that Hamas’s demand will not be met.
“Hamas’s insistence that GHF go away as part of a ceasefire serves to illustrate just how much of a threat it is to them,” the official said. “The courageous work of the GHF will continue for as long as Gazans are in need of food. GHF is the only organization that has proven itself secure and effective.”
GHF has delivered nearly 65 million meals since beginning operations in February without formal support from the U.N., which served as Gaza’s primary humanitarian patron for decades. UNRWA and other U.N.-backed aid groups have long faced criticism for allowing Hamas to steal aid and resell it on the black market, a problem that grew worse when war broke out on Oct. 7.
“U.N. entities and NGOs smeared GHF and refused to work with GHF despite the success on the ground and the reality that much of the assistance they had provided into Gaza had been stolen by and directly or indirectly benefited Hamas,” the State Department cable reads.
The U.N. and NGOs “seem more focused on falsely criticizing Israel for not doing enough to provide humanitarian assistance into Gaza, rather than engage in serious conversations to be part of the solution to help Gazans in a way that ensures Hamas does not benefit,” the cable continues.
The U.N.’s stance has effectively bolstered Hamas’s own narrative about aid and given it cover to demand that GHF cease operations under any future ceasefire agreement, according to the senior U.S. official.
“It’s disgusting to see the U.N. echoing Hamas narratives,” the official told the Free Beacon. “The U.N. and many in the mainstream media are nothing more than useful idiots for Hamas. Seeing their grift threatened, the U.N. would rather see food rot on trucks and in warehouses than cooperate with the only mechanism that is working: the GHF. It’s shameful.”
GHF recently took legal action against the Associated Press for publishing a “categorically false” report in which the news wire claimed aid workers opened fire on civilians. Hamas and others used the story to undermine GHF’s operations.
Intelligence reports Israel recently provided to the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem confirmed that “most of the humanitarian assistance sent into Gaza since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 through U.N. entities and NGOs was not going directly to civilians but instead being taken and looted by Hamas and sold on the black market, providing an enormous financial windfall for Hamas,” according to the cable.
Videos filmed in northern Gaza show Hamas militants stealing U.N. aid deliveries as recently as June 23, the cable states.
Since the Oct. 7 attacks, “Hamas has greatly benefited from the humanitarian assistance the U.N. and NGOs provided into Gaza with little to no meaningful safeguards,” the cable continues. “Hamas was able to use the additional resources to recruit new (less experienced) fighters and maintain some political/governing control over the civilian population.”
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