Hamas’s leaders punished lower level operatives who accused their superiors of stealing and hoarding humanitarian aid, according to internal radio communications from 2024 intercepted by Israel and leaked to Israel press outlets. 

The recordings, broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12, were sent to the Biden administration in an unsuccessful effort to push back against the White House’s insistence on allowing 250 trucks of aid to enter the strip daily. That pressure grew after the November 2023 ceasefire agreement collapsed. 

“Tell the leadership in Khan Younis, we’ll beat you up,” one lower-level operative can be heard saying in the radio communication. “You only take care of yourselves. There is no leadership.”

Another operative says: “Our condition is very harsh. We haven’t had an allotment for a long time. What is the leadership’s response? They took everything, stole everything. Soon we won’t find anything to eat or drink.”

According to the report, terrorists who expressed their ire at Hamas’s leaders later received notice that their wives had been attacked in a Rafah Mosque. 

One operative denounced Hamas for beating up his wife, yelling out, “I swear I’ll rain blows on all of you.” Another operative pushed back on his accusation, saying, “Guys, calm down, the leadership has nothing to do with the incident and has been following it from the first moment.” To which the first operative responds: “Amer, spare me these stories.” 

The recordings were shared with the Biden administration as further evidence of Hamas’s hijacking of humanitarian aid, a scheme which Israeli officials claim has served as a lifeline to Hamas. 

“The Americans helped us a lot at the start of the war, but at some point, they tied one of our hands,” a security official quoted in the report says. “Not only did the flow of humanitarian aid not feed Gaza’s civilians — it helped Hamas recover, and in that sense, we helped them get back on their feet.” 

The Israeli government estimated in September that Hamas, since the start of the war, had pocketed at least half a billion dollars from ransacking humanitarian aid shipped into the strip. 

According to a study published in Israel last week, the amount of food delivered into the strip during the first half of 2024 exceeded the nutritional requirements set forth by international humanitarian guidelines. 

Adjusting for projected losses, the researchers estimate that a net total of 478,229 metric tons of food was supplied to Gaza over those seven months. That means that each resident had access to an average daily food supply of 3,004 calories, made up of 98 grams of protein, 61 grams of fat, and 23 milligrams of iron. The findings contradict the prevailing claim that Gaza is suffering from a deadly food shortage. 

“In most months when humanitarian aid was transferred, the quantity and quality of food entering was reasonable to good, meaning if the population didn’t receive food, it’s because distribution wasn’t equitable by those controlling the territory — meaning Hamas,” one of the study’s co-authors, Professor Ronit Endevelt, a former director of the Ministry of Health’s department of nutrition, said.