US envoy: Israel hasn’t provided "specific evidence" Hamas is stealing aid shipments

The top US diplomat involved in humanitarian assistance for Gaza denied allegations that Hamas has stolen aid and commercial shipments into the enclave, the Times of Israel reports.

He said that no Israeli official has presented him or the Biden administration with “specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance”, the Times of Israel reports.

But, David Satterfield told an event on Friday hosted by the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, that Hamas has been using other aid delivery channels to “shape where and to whom assistance goes.”

Footage from Gaza has shown gunmen, believed to be members of the terror group, stealing trucks delivering humanitarian aid from Egypt. Israel has also long said that Hamas stockpiled supplies and kept them from increasingly desperate civilians.

According to Sutterfeld, Israeli forces earlier this month killed Palestinian police — among them Hamas operatives — protecting a UN aid convoy in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah. As a result, Sutterfeld said they have since refused to protect convoys, hampering aid deliveries inside Gaza because of threats from criminal gangs.

“With the departure of police escorts, it has been virtually impossible for the UN or anyone else, Jordan, the UAE, or any other implementer to safely move assistance in Gaza because of criminal elements,” Satterfield said.

Satterfield said the police escorts include Hamas members but also officers with no direct affiliation to the terror group.

Israel’s military did not immediately provide comment on his remarks.

Satterfield was asked if there was any truth to a report that Israeli troops killed Hamas operatives protecting a UN aid convoy in Rafah earlier this month.

“The IDF (Israeli Defense Force) 10 days, two weeks ago, did indeed strike at seven, eight, or nine police officials, including a commander whose units had been involved in providing escorts,” he replied.