Hamas Tried to Steal Gaza Aid Shipment From Jordan, US Says

Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, attempted to seize a major shipment of humanitarian aid from Jordan intended for civilians in Gaza, according to a US State Department spokesman.

Matthew Miller revealed at a press briefing on Thursday that earlier in the week Hamas hijacked a significant aid shipment from Jordan that was delivered to Gaza through a newly reopened Israeli border crossing.

“Yesterday was the first major shipment of aid from Jordan over this new land route through the Erez Crossing,” Miller told reporters. “The convoys from the Jordan military that brought the aid in unloaded the aid inside Gaza. It was then picked up by a humanitarian implementer for distribution inside Gaza, and that aid was intercepted and diverted by Hamas on the ground in Gaza.”

However, the aid was ultimately recovered and returned to the organization responsible for its distribution, according to Miller, who noted that UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, would likely issue a statement soon condemning the incident.

“The UN is either in the process or has by now recovered that aid, but it was an unacceptable act by Hamas to divert this aid to begin with, to seize this aid,” Miller said. “We have made clear that it’s an unacceptable act. I think the UN partners will be also making clear that it’s an unacceptable act.”

Miller emphasized that diverting humanitarian aid hurts civilians in Gaza, where Hamas terrorists have been embedding themselves in the civilian population and using civilian sites — such as hospitals — as command and operational centers.

“If there is one thing that Hamas could do to jeopardize the shipment of aid, it would be diverting it for their own use rather than allowing it to go to the innocent civilians that need it, so they certainly should refrain from doing that in the future,” he said, describing the incident as the “first widespread case of diversion that we have seen.”

Hamas reportedly held the aid trucks for a period before eventually releasing them.

There have been long-held concerns about Hamas keeping resources sent to Gaza for itself that were intended for the civilian population.

Last fall, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel had offered fuel to Al Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital facility, but that the terrorists had refused to receive it. Several press reports, citing Arab and Western officials, have corroborated Israeli claims that Hamas has been hoarding hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel for rockets and electricity used to power its network of underground tunnels as Gaza hospitals struggle to maintain power.