Recordings reveal the Biden administration pressured Israel on Gaza aid despite evidence that it went to Hamas leaders

Israel presented recordings to the former Biden administration showing that humanitarian aid entered Gaza in January 2024 but reached Hamas terrorists leaders instead of Gazan residents, Israeli Channel 12 reported.

However, despite incriminating evidence that the aid strengthened Hamas, the Biden administration nevertheless pressured Israel to facilitate the daily entry of 250 trucks with aid into the Gaza Strip. 

The recordings Israel obtained also unveiled the close ties between the discredited United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and Hamas. 

In one of the recordings, one Hamas operative can be heard saying, “At the moment, monitoring is underway, and we will receive updates. There are definitely injured among them. Some of them are UNRWA employees. Two of them are police officers.”

The Channel 12 report also revealed growing tensions within the Hamas organization. Junior Hamas terrorists reportedly complained they did not receive parts of the aid shipments that reached senior Hamas commanders. These Hamas terrorists were informed that other Hamas operatives had attacked their wives in a mosque in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. 

“They enter the women’s room and beat them,” the reports stated. “We will redeem our people with our soul and our blood,” the operatives reportedly said according to the Channel 12 report. “The leadership is not involved in the matter and has been following it from the very beginning,” was the recorded response to the incident. 

The recordings also revealed internal criticism of Hamas leaders that is rarely voiced in public. 

“Aamer, spare me these stories that the leadership wasn’t following. Pray that we disperse before we are brought to the south. I swear to you, we will tear you apart. Tell the leadership in Khan Yunis as well. We will tear you apart. You only care about yourselves. There is no leadership,” one frustrated Hamas terrorist was heard saying. 

“All the leadership in Khan Yunis should cover their heads because they are not men. They enter the women’s rooms and beat them inside the room. Everyone needs to understand that our honor is more precious than our lives,” the operative continued. 

“Our blood is worthless when it comes to our honor. Despite everything we are going through, this is what burned us from within. The war is one thing; the war and the rockets and nothing else scare us. Until this issue. This is what killed us. Our honor,” the Hamas terrorist said. 

In January 2024, the U.S. and several other leading donor nations temporarily suspended aid to UNRWA after Israel presented incriminating evidence that several UNRWA employees participated in the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping of 251 people from southern Israeli border communities.

Israeli intelligence has estimated that at least 10% of UNRWA’s staff members in Gaza are simultaneously affiliated with Hamas or other terrorist organizations. 

Much of the international aid to UNRWA was restored after a panel report last April largely whitewashed the strong connection between UNRWA and Hamas. Israel’s security concerns were largely ignored by the donor nations. 

In October, the Israeli parliament consequently voted to ban UNRWA’s activities despite vocal international protests.

The ban on UNRWA took effect on Jan. 28 and donor nations are looking for an effective replacement for UNRWA that is not affiliated with Hamas or any other terrorist organization.