Hamas used a Palestinian charity to channel donations to its military wing, including grants, construction support, and logistics for terrorists, the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate said on Thursday.
Documents recovered in Gaza, analyzed by a military intelligence unit, detail organized meetings in 2023 between Hamas and several NGOs, with the Qawafel al-Khair charity at the center.
The IDF said the records indicate funds labeled as humanitarian were used to strengthen the capabilities of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s so-called “military wing.”
How did Hamas use the charitable funds?
Hamas was said to have used the funds from the humanitarian association to establish the terror group’s training division and to distribute thousands of food parcels to members of the military wing.
Another document acquired by the IDF also documented Hamas’s outreach to Qawafel al-Khair, which means “convoys of good,” requesting economic support for one of its operatives.
What is the Palestinian charity 'Qawafel al-Khair'?
The charity promises to provide food and aid to Palestinians impacted by the “siege” on Gaza and the war ignited by Hamas over two years ago. Donors are given the choice to sponsor a Gazan orphan, a tent, food packages, water, and clothing for children.
The organization’s X/Twitter account shows it was created by a user in Gaza in 2015, and its website noted the organization originally went by the name “Ruba Al-Khair.”
The charity was originally opened by two Hamas terrorists, according to UK legal group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). Mansour Rayan and Ali Al-Mughrabi, the organization’s founders, were both released as part of the Gilad Schalit deal in 2011.
Rayan had been imprisoned for the murder of an Israeli, and Mughrabi had been part of a terrorist cell that organized a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in which 11 Israelis were killed.
Mughrabi is understood to have been killed in a January airstrike by the IDF in Gaza.
UKLFI’s investigation came after it suspected that Qawafel al-Khair was using UK charities to fundraise in Britain, leading to an investigation by the Charity Commissioner into the organization We Care.