Hamas‘s rule over Gaza since 2007 has been marked by the exploitation of its civilian population and abuse of humanitarian aid mechanisms. Now, led by the United States, plans to begin Gaza reconstruction as a Hamas-free enclave are underway. However, without a comprehensive solution that prevents the terrorist group’s resurgence, Gazans will again be robbed of the chance at a normal life. A post-Hamas Gaza requires recognizing and rejecting the system by which Hamas infiltrated the humanitarian nongovernmental organization industry to strengthen its crushing grip on Gaza’s economy and its people.
Internal Hamas documents, captured during the war in Gaza and analyzed by NGO Monitor, show that Hamas surveilled, intimidated, and controlled international aid nongovernmental organizations in the Gaza Strip. I reviewed hundreds of Hamas’s memoranda, correspondence, and reports in their original Arabic. They demonstrate that the terrorist group mandated high-level “guarantors” — employees at major nongovernmental organizations who were forced to liaise with Hamas, share sensitive internal information, shelve or alter vital humanitarian projects, and channel substantial donor funds to Hamas-provided beneficiaries. The end result: Humanitarian independence in Gaza was erased and replaced with a police state of fear and coercion.
To optimize this guarantor system, Hamas needed the cooperation of both its members already employed at certain nongovernmental organizations and of other, less supportive liaisons at other organizations. To recruit less enthusiastic nongovernmental organization staffers, Hamas collected intimate personal information that could be used to intimidate or blackmail them. For example, its profile on a prominent international nongovernmental organization’s liaison notes that he exchanged suggestive photos with a colleague. Elsewhere, Hamas logged an nongovernmental organization official’s extramarital affair. In another case, Hamas took notes on what it considered the risqué attire of a female guarantor, commenting derisively that she “leaves her house in exposed clothing that transgresses sharia law.”
For some nongovernmental organizations, Hamas exerted less effort because it already had affiliates placed within the organizations. The internal documents say its liaisons, or those of the PFLP terrorist group, were employed at Medical Aid for Palestinians, Catholic Relief Services, Human Appeal, CESVI, International Medical Corps, Handicap International, and other groups. Some held positions in Hamas’s military and governmental arms while simultaneously working for nongovernmental organizations with stated aims to improve Palestinian lives.
Naturally, this level of Hamas control, via individuals either willing or coerced to follow Hamas’s orders, infected years of nongovernmental organization messaging about geopolitical developments in Gaza. For instance, the documents describe MAP-UK’s administrative director in Gaza as “working in the ‘positive,'” an internal Hamas term for its military arm, the Izz Ad-Din Al Qassam Brigades. Thus, unsurprisingly, MAP-UK’s twisted statement on the first anniversary of the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, marked only “one year of Israel’s military assault and siege” and even “potential genocide.” No word on the atrocities that started the war. No word on the hostages.
Similarly, the U.S.-based NGO ANERA has said it “adheres to a no-contact policy with Hamas” and “does not engage with, coordinate with, or provide aid to any Hamas leaders, affiliates, or related entities.” Yet, according to the documents, it was indeed in contact with Hamas officials and provided them with names of participants in ANERA programming. Moreover, the nongovernmental organization downplayed Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities as merely “a continuation of the bloodshed we have seen for decades in the absence of a political solution,” writing less like a “neutral” aid group than an activist lobby.
HOW NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS PERPETUATE THE CONFLICT IN GAZA
The documents I analyzed also demonstrate Hamas’s repeated interference with and sabotage of nongovernmental organizations’ humanitarian work. Along with the aforementioned co-opting of messaging, the memoranda paint a disturbing picture and left me with burning questions: Why didn’t the groups’ Gaza chapters ever publicly complain that Hamas was undermining their aid operations? Why didn’t they publicly warn their supporters that their messaging was manipulated by Hamas? And how much did the top officials in nongovernmental organizations’ Western headquarters know?
Gaza’s rebuilding is at a crossroads. It’s not too late to wrest power from Hamas; international nongovernmental organizations must choose to step out from under the terrorist group’s shadow. Otherwise, rebuilding Gaza and establishing regional stability will remain out of reach. When nongovernmental organizations stop caving to Hamas’s intimidation and control, a better future is both possible and close at hand.
Daniel Segal is NGO Monitor’s Arabic research manager. He analyzed the internal Hamas documents that are quoted and analyzed in NGO Monitor’s report “Puppet Regime: Hamas’ Coercive Grip on Aid and NGO Operations in Gaza.”
