UNCOVERED: Hamas Strategy to Infiltrate, Control NGOs in Gaza

Hamas has a history of infiltrating nongovernmental organizations working in Gaza, according to a new report.  

Documents removed from Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces and obtained by NGO Monitor reveal “the terrorist group’s systemic control of foreign NGOs operating in Gaza.”  

The 48-page report from NGO Monitor, a research and oversight organization based in Israel, details strategies Hamas has used to hold sway over organizations conducting humanitarian work in Gaza.  

The report describes the way Hamas has monitored NGOs and even sought to manipulate them, but the “most invasive and egregious mechanism” of influence, according to NGO Monitor, is the “guarantor” system. 

Through what NGO Monitor calls the “guarantor system,” a document from 2022 reveals that Hamas required “formal liaisons between its internal security apparatus and the international NGOs.”  

“Hamas views ‘guarantors’ as potential high-value intelligence assets to gain access to the NGOs’ internal information and operations,” according to the report released Wednesday. 

A 35-page document dated Dec. 14, 2022, from the State of Palestine Ministry of Interior and National Security Interior Security names more than 40 foreign NGOs operating in Gaza and details the “guarantor” Hamas has identified in each organization. 

Since 2007, Hamas has controlled internal security in Gaza under the Ministry of Interior. Following two years of war with Israel, Hamas has been significantly weakened but not destroyed. Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October that is based on President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. It remains unclear who will take over leadership of Gaza once a formal end to the war is agreed upon.

Some of the “guarantors” listed in the Ministry of the Interior document are noted to have direct ties to Hamas.  

The document, which NGO Monitor translated, begins by explaining that the list of “guarantors” have been identified as individuals who are allowed to submit requests for a foreign visitor.  

“These [guarantors] can be exploited for security purposes, in order to infiltrate foreign associations, their foreign senior staff and their movements on the field inside the Gaza Strip,” the formal document retrieved from Gaza states.  

The list of named “guarantors” is the “linking element between the association and the Ministry of Interior,” according to the document.  

NGO Monitor redacted the specific names of “guarantors” for security and privacy, but NGOs working in Gaza in 2022, in which Hamas had identified a “guarantor,” are named, along with specific notes about each individual and the level of cooperation with the “Internal Security Mechanism,” or Hamas.  

For example, Medical Aid for Palestinians—U.K. is listed as “neutral” in cooperation. Bullet points under the name of the group’s “guarantor” identify him as a director of the association and state that he is “affiliated with the Hamas movement and has allegiance [to its rule].” It is also noted that his “circle of friends is from the Hamas movement.” 

Several pages down, Islamic Relief UK is identified as “cooperating” with the Ministry of Interior. The “guarantor” for the group is identified as a director and his travel and financial habits are also described.  

Rahma Worldwide, a humanitarian organization headquartered in Michigan with operations around the globe, is listed as “cooperating.” The “guarantor” is identified as having “formerly affiliated with the Salafi movement, and is now affiliated with the Hamas movement.” His occupation, travel and financial habits, and “low” religious observance are also noted.  

Save the Children, a large charity organization operating around the world, is labeled as “not cooperating” with Hamas. The “guarantor” is recorded to have a “very limited” circle of friends and be from a “religiously observant and committed family.”  

Doctors Without Borders Spain is listed as being “neutral” in cooperation with ruling authorities in Gaza, but Doctors Without Borders Belgium and France are recorded as “not cooperating.”  

The aid group Catholic Relief Services is labeled as “not cooperating,” and the “guarantor” is noted as being “affiliated with the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine],” a group the U.S. designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997.  

The Daily Signal has contacted the humanitarian organizations specifically named in this report and is awaiting responses.  

“The evidence confirms that NGOs in Gaza do not operate independently or neutrally,” according to NGO Monitor. “Rather, they are embedded in an institutionalized framework of coercion, intimidation, and surveillance that serves Hamas’ terror objectives.”  

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