Biden officials say IDF never privately asserted that Hamas was physically diverting aid
Former high Biden administration officers Jack Lew and David Satterfield reveal that “neither the IDF nor the UN ever shared proof with us — or asserted to us privately — that Hamas was bodily diverting US-funded items offered by the World Meals Programme or worldwide nongovernmental organizations.”
“Moreover, there was no proof of considerable Hamas diversion of any main help funded by the UN or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),” write Lew, who served as US ambassador to Israel, and Satterfield, who served as US envoy for Mideast humanitarian points, in a joint op-ed in International Affairs.
Israel has insisted quite the opposite and used the assertion of widespread, systemic Hamas theft of support to justify the creation of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Basis in Could.
Israel has offered anecdotal proof of footage exhibiting gunmen who it claims are Hamas operatives commandeering support vans, however The New York Occasions cited two senior navy officers final month who acknowledged that whereas Hamas is stealing among the support, there is no such thing as a proof to counsel that it’s a systemic downside.
A June inner evaluation produced by the US Company for Worldwide Growth reached the identical conclusion. Political appointees on the State Division subsequently got here out towards the evaluation after it was leaked to the press, however a supply acquainted with the matter tells the Haaretz every day that these people are counting on info offered to them by the Israelis.
Lew and Satterfield make clear that “Hamas did discover methods to tax, extort, and to some extent divert support, together with help from Egypt dealt with by the Palestine Purple Crescent Society,” echoing some extent that Satterfield made in an interview with The Occasions of Israel final month.
For the primary yr of the conflict, Israel allowed Hamas police to safe convoys to stop criminals from looting the vans. However Israel finally reached the conclusion that Hamas was utilizing this position to carry onto its governance and started focusing on the fear group’s operatives in January 2024, resulting in the rise of prison gangs and looters, Lew and Satterfield recall.
Israel initially most well-liked to depend on non-public contractors to safe convoys, however subsequently realized that these teams have been additionally working with Hamas and the prison gangs, resulting in the termination of this association.
Lew and Satterfield reveal that it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who requested US President Joe Biden to arrange a brief pier off the coast of Gaza to assist ship extra support. The undertaking thus far had been seen as an entirely US endeavor.
Whereas the previous Biden officers credit score the pier for having fed some 450,000 Gazans, it was extensively seen as a extremely expensive failure after it broke aside a number of instances and was compelled to close down utterly after lower than a month.
Nonetheless, Lew and Satterfield word that Israel had agreed to open the Ashdod Port to help circulation in alternate for the pier — a concession that remained in place nicely after the floating dock stopped working.
The highest Biden officers additionally recall how former protection minister Yoav Gallant proved as a crucial conduit that the US relied on to increase the entry of humanitarian support into Gaza, overcoming opposition from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition companions.
Gallant helped persuade the remainder of the federal government to permit support to return into Gaza immediately from Israel by way of the Kerem Shalom Crossing in early 2024 after the US vetoed a Safety Council decision demanding a direct ceasefire in Gaza.
Lew and Satterfield argued that the administration’s shut monitoring of the humanitarian scenario on the highest ranges helped stave off the mass hunger that support teams now warn is taking form in Gaza.
“Even Biden tracked the variety of vans every day,” the previous US officers recall.
“Within the meantime, there was a brand new administration in Washington that was far much less concerned within the particulars of support supply—and had begun dismantling the structure of US help worldwide,” they add.
