Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday.Gunness has repeatedly sided with Hamas and claimed that Hamas didn't steal supplies in the past and that Israel had regularly targeted civilians and UNRWA facilities. This puts his prior statements at odds with the facts.
A Pelestinian man carrying a...
A Pelestinian man carrying a bag of flour given through UNRWA's aid program [illustrative].
Photo: AP
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Gunness said the policemen raided a UN warehouse in Gaza City, snatching 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels - supplies meant for 500 Palestinian families. He said the incident took place on Tuesday evening and that it marked the first time Hamas had seized UN aid.
In a statement released Wednesday, UNRWA condemned the theft "in the strongest terms," and demanded that it be "returned immediately." The statement added that the organization "has a strict system of monitoring aid delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries," and that officials were present "taking all possible steps to avoid its diversion."
Israel has charged that Hamas routinely confiscates supplies meant for needy Gazans.
A Hamas government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Hamas has been stealing supplies all along and reselling them to Gazans so that the terrorist group can raise money for its war against Israel.
A number of reports from the Strip paint a picture of very difficult humanitarian conditions, not least because of Hamas itself. The suspicion is that the group's operatives have seized control of any supplies passing through the crossings – including those sent by Israel and international organizations.This is what you get when you provide humanitarian aid to a terrorist group who controls a region with an iron fist and which considers its jihad against Israel paramount over any humanitarian concerns.
Reports say Hamas takes a cut out of all aid that arrives, including flour and medicine. Supplies intended to be distributed without gain among the population is seized by the group and sold to the residents, at a profit to the Hamas government.
One such incident was recorded Monday, when a convoy of trucks carrying supplies through the Kerem Shalom crossing was opened fire upon and seized by Hamas gunmen. Similar incidents occurred with trucks carrying fuel.
The situation in Gaza is dire because Hamas makes it so, and UNRWA facilitates such actions by looking the other way as the terrorist group operates freely in the refugee camps, hires Hamas thugs as support staff, and is so thoroughly penetrated by Hamas, that it is not much more than a propaganda outfit for Hamas.
As much as the UN would protest otherwise, they have admitted that there is no way to check the background of those they hire, which means that Hamas is on the payroll and does have access to UNRWA facilities.
As Kenneth at LGF notes, UNRWA facilitates terrorism through its operations, and perpetuates the Palestinian refugee situation simply by defining refugee differently than the other UN agency responsible for refugees, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). UNRWA defines refugees to include the descendants of any original refugee, meaning that there are millions more people who are considered refugees than otherwise. It also provides a permanent bureaucracy since there is no incentive to end the operations since you have a constantly growing population.
UNRWA helps millions fewer people than UNHCR, and yet has a vastly larger budget per capita and has far more people on the payroll than UNHCR. Hamas has exploited this situation time and time again, and the UN has sat back and complained about Israel's actions.
The problem resides first and foremost with Hamas, but the UN is also responsible for facilitating the crisis.
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