No proof Hamas routinely stole UN aid: Israeli military officials

JERUSALEM: For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid provided by the United Nations and other international organisations. The govt has used that claim as its main rationale for restricting food from entering the Gaza Strip.But the Israeli military never found proof that the Palestinian militant group had systematically stolen aid from the United Nations, the biggest supplier of emergency assistance to Gaza for most of the war, according to two senior Israeli military officials and two other Israelis involved in the matter.In fact, the Israeli military officials said, the UN aid delivery system was largely effective in providing food to Gaza's hungry population.

Now, with hunger at crisis levels in the territory, Israel is coming under increased international pressure over its conduct of the war in Gaza and the humanitarian suffering it has brought. Israel has largely brushed off the criticism.David Mencer, a govt spokesperson, said this past week that there was "no famine caused by Israel." Instead, he blamed Hamas and poor coordination by the United Nations for any food shortages.

Israel moved in May toward replacing the UN-led aid system, opting instead to back a private, American-run operation guarded by armed US contractors in areas controlled by Israeli military forces. Some aid still comes into Gaza through the UN and other organisations.The new system has proved to be much deadlier for Palestinians. According to the Gaza health ministry, almost 1,100 people have been killed by gunfire on their way to get food handouts under the new system, in many cases by Israeli soldiers who opened fire on hungry crowds.In the latest such incident, three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid in three separate incidents in northern, central and southern Gaza, said the civil defence agency on Saturday. In total, at least 25 people were killed, reports AFP.The military officials who spoke to The New York Times said that the original UN aid operation was relatively reliable and less vulnerable to Hamas interference than the operations of many of the other groups bringing aid into Gaza. Hamas did steal from some of the smaller organisations that donated aid, according to the senior Israeli officials and others involved in the matter. But, they say, there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the UN, which provided the largest chunk of the aid.