Hamas sought to infiltrate, control, and manipulate international and local nongovernmental organizations through the NGO officials that acted as guarantors for foreign staff and visitors, according to Hamas intelligence documents recovered by the IDF and obtained and translated by NGO Monitor.
The guarantors in senior NGO positions, some of whom were allegedly affiliated with terrorist organizations, appeared to present both a security threat and opportunity for Hamas intelligence services, according to a Wednesday NGO Monitor report and documents whose existence was confirmed to The Jerusalem Post by the IDF.
A partially declassified December 2022 Ministry of Interior and National Security (MoINS) dossier viewed by the Post provided details on NGO foreign visitor guarantors and advised how infiltration by the interior security services would be an “outstanding security-intelligence accomplishment.”
“The [guarantors] can be exploited for security purposes in order to infiltrate foreign associations, their foreign senior staff, and their movement on the field inside the Gaza Strip,” read the translated document.
“Hamas movement’s International Relations [body] and its important role in the foreigners’ portfolio, specifically relating to inviting visiting foreigners, should be made use of in such a way that many associations will seek [Hamas] International Relations in order to facilitate their missions.”
Guarantors for foreign visitors were important to Hamas because all information on foreigners entering the Strip could be scraped from the permit requests from these intermediates, according to NGO Monitor.
Hamas coerces NGOs: UN urged to scrutinize Gaza aid
In the past, requests for entry were submitted by low-level management, according to the December 2022 document, which made monitoring and updating intelligence information difficult. Later, the ability to request entry was limited to high-ranking officials, in Hamas’s estimation making them the first line of security and possible counter-security threat measures.
NGO Monitor asserted that the guarantor system meant that Hamas required formal liaisons between its security apparatus and NGOs.
“NGOs in Gaza do not operate independently or neutrally,” NGO Monitor said in its report. “Rather, they are embedded in an institutionalized framework of coercion, intimidation, and surveillance that serves Hamas’s terror objective.”
The 2022 MoINS report included intelligence on 55 employees at 48 organizations, detailing which NGOs were cooperating with Hamas, if they had any faction affiliations, as well as their religious observance, habits, wealth, status, and supposed moral failings.
Several of the 55 guarantors were allegedly affiliated with Hamas. A CESVI (Committee for Solidarity with Victims) Gaza representative body member was allegedly affiliated with the terror organization and married to a Hamas sergeant.
While the International Medical Corps (IMC) was designated in the 2022 document as “not cooperating” with Hamas, a Gaza administrative director was a Hamas supporter and was involved in its operations. IMC said that none of its officials were linked to the terror organization, and foreign visitor guarantors were never used to push the NGO to make connections to the Islamist group.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) also allegedly employed an administrative director who supported Hamas but was not affiliated. But in a contradictory manner, the NGO Monitor translation claimed that while he was detailed as not affiliated with the movement, he was employed by the Hamas government and had a rank of captain.
The NGO said that it had a strict screening and vetting regulation for partners, staff, and suppliers. NRC insisted that it complies with laws, regulations, and sanctions and terrorism lists and has policies in place to ensure aid reaches those in need.
“NRC, as a global humanitarian organization with decades of experience operating in conflict zones, has tried-and-tested systems aimed at preventing any funding [from] falling into the wrong hands,” said the NGO. “Furthermore, those organizations and governments that provide funding to NRC have strict reporting requirements to ensure that funds are only used as intended.”
The El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, an Algerian NGO sanctioned by the US Treasury in June for allegedly diverting charity money to Hamas, was listed by the Islamist group as “cooperating” with it. A guarantor and Gaza director for Hamas was also described as having previously been affiliated with it but was no longer.
Rahma Worldwide was also described as cooperating with Hamas, and its Gaza director now supported the terror group after being previously affiliated with Salafists. The document alleged that Human Appeal’s Gaza director was affiliated with Hamas and that the NGO was cooperating with the movement.
Rahma rejected any allegations of association with Hamas or other designated groups and said that at no time have its officials been affiliated with Hamas.
The Gaza director had been vetted and cleared by Israeli authorities, including the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and permitted to engage in humanitarian work, the NGO shared.
At the end of 2023, the person matching the time frame of the MoINS document no longer worked at Rahma.
“We operate strictly as a humanitarian organization and follow all US and international compliance requirements,” said the organization.
“As part of delivering aid in conflict or crisis zones, humanitarian organizations are often required to coordinate with local authorities to ensure access, movement, and safety. This coordination is administrative in nature and should not be misconstrued as cooperation or alignment. At no point did Hamas threaten, pressure, or attempt to force Rahma or its members to cooperate or make concessions.”
Handicap International was listed as a neutral organization, but its Gaza director was alleged to be affiliated with Hamas. A neutral local association, CIVITAS, supposedly had an executive director who had been affiliated with Hamas since the First Intifada. Another guarantor, interpreted by NGO Monitor to be working for Hamas’s Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, was listed as an administrative director for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP UK).
MAP UK cast doubt on the veracity of the information, explaining that it never had a role titled “administrative director,” and that its records, safeguarding processes, and diligence checks provided no indication that any member of an armed group was within its organization. The allegations were not supported by the evidence, said a spokesperson.
“MAP continues to diligently uphold our humanitarian principles and political independence at all times,” said the NGO. “For many years, MAP – like all humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza – has been required to request permission for any foreign visitors, including staff, from both the Israeli authorities and the authorities in Gaza. This is standard operational practice.”
The spokesperson argued that NGO Monitor had often “promoted misleading or baseless claims and factual inaccuracies” against humanitarian and human rights NGOs in Palestinian territories, and the newest allegations fit the same trend. The 2022 document made special note of guarantors with ties to rival factions such as Fatah or the Al Nasser Brigades, even if the connection was tangential through family members.
NGO Monitors’ report alleged that a March 2020 MoINS document called to analyze and “make use” of guarantors as part of a broader espionage effort.
“Infiltrate international organizations’ headquarters and their employees, both technologically and by human sources,” the document reportedly said.
A June 2021 MoINS report allegedly described how the ministry had threatened a Mercy Corps Gaza director and foreign visitor guarantor for concealing information that Hamas demanded. The official reportedly agreed to cooperate by providing security, administrative, and financial observations during his work at Mercy Corps or in collaborations with any other NGO.
The author of the document supposedly recommended Hamas continue exploiting the NGO official in order to monitor nonprofit activities.
“Compulsory engagement with MoINS is not a matter of standard regulatory compliance, but rather a Hamas political and security mechanism to control the activities of civil society organizations,” asserted NGO Monitor.
According to the organization, MoINS sought to review the finances of NGOs as part of its intelligence operations. NGO Monitor said that 2019 and 2020 intelligence reports indicated that Hamas sought to punish and pose restrictions on Save the Children and IMC for not cooperating and providing financial and administrative documents. However, IMC said that Hamas had not closed its operations in 2020 because it failed to provide such documentation.
Hamas also reportedly utilized local companies affiliated with the terrorist organization to steer NGOs. NGO Monitor said that a 2021 document showed that the founders and officers of an Oxfam implementing partner were affiliated with Hamas. According to NGO Monitor, the document indicated that the terror organization believed the company would prevent an Oxfam irrigation project from impacting Hamas security infrastructure.
Oxfam said it was an “impartial organization with rigorous controls in place to help ensure the assistance we provide gets to the people who need it most. We follow strict due diligence and vetting procedures for all contractors, including comprehensive screening, including through the internationally recognized LSEG World-Check system.”
The Wednesday report also asserted that MoINS documents showed that Hamas would interfere with NGO surveys, including one created by Oxfam to guide its 2021 aid project. In some instances Hamas allegedly ordered the redaction of questions that it believed would reveal aspects of the terrorist organization’s installations and membership.
NGO Monitor said that the documents laid out how Hamas exerted control over NGOs at an institutional and individual level, and that they had no freedom of operation in Gaza. NGOs operating in Gaza were aware of the realities of working under Hamas rule, said the watchdog, but failed to disclose Hamas’s coercive conditions and exploitations.
“This research is timely and highly consequential,” NGO Monitor president Prof. Gerald Steinberg said in a statement.
“Governments and international organizations are planning to provide billions of dollars for the rebuilding of Gaza and will partner with numerous NGOs to reconstruct infrastructure, provide municipal services like utilities and education, and probably distribute cash payments. We now know which NGOs and their local affiliates have been propping up the Hamas terror regime.”
Steinberg suggested that the documents and research be used by the US and Israeli governments to screen the involvement of NGOs providing aid in Gaza.