Gaza Herald- Two senior officials from the Biden administration, Jack Lew and David Satterfield, have openly contradicted Israel’s narrative that Hamas has been looting humanitarian aid in Gaza.
In a joint op-ed for Foreign Affairs, the former officials explained that during their tenure, the diversion of aid was “primarily the work of criminal gangs,” not Hamas. They stressed that at no point did the Israeli military or the United Nations provide them with evidence or even private assertions that Hamas was physically seizing U.S.-funded supplies.
Lew, who served as Washington’s ambassador to Israel, and Satterfield, the former U.S. Middle East humanitarian envoy, acknowledged that Hamas, like any authority in a besieged territory, imposed taxes, carried out extortion, and in some cases diverted aid. However, they emphasized there was “no evidence of significant Hamas diversion” of food, medicine, or other critical assistance provided through the UN or humanitarian organizations.
Despite this, Israel continues to claim that Hamas systematically steals aid, a narrative it has used to justify the creation of the U.S. and Israel-backed contractor GHF. These distribution sites, however, have become notorious for deadly chaos, where hundreds of starving Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach desperately needed supplies.
By repeating baseless claims against Hamas, Israel shifts attention away from its responsibility for starving an entire population under blockade. The testimony of former U.S. officials not only exposes the lack of evidence behind Israel’s narrative but also underscores how these fabrications have been weaponized to justify policies that deepen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe.
