'For months, we and other organizations were dragged through the mud,' said a former UN official, after Israeli military sources told the New York Times there's no evidence Hamas systematically stole UN aid – contradicting Netanyahu's repeated claims
Senior Israeli military officials told the New York Times they never found proof that Hamas systematically stole humanitarian aid from the United Nations in Gaza – contradicting claims by the Israeli government that formed the basis for blocking aid deliveries for months.
According to two senior IDF officers and two other Israelis involved in the matter, the UN's aid distribution system, which Israel had criticized and sought to replace, was "largely effective in providing food to Gaza's desperate and hungry population."
"For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid," the report states, adding that "the government has used that claim as its main rationale for restricting food from entering Gaza."
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas did steal from some smaller aid groups that lacked on-the-ground oversight, but "there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid."
