According to a report by an Israeli NGO, Hamas’s own internal memos show it has been working in tandem with Canadian government‑funded charities and non‑governmental organizations.
The documents, which the Israeli army says it seized during its Gaza counteroffensive, detail how the terror organization allegedly infiltrated and exploited international NGOs operating in the Strip.
National Post was given exclusive access to electronic scans of what are said to be the original Arabic documents, as well as English translations, by NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based non-profit that works to hold non-governmental organizations accountable, particularly on matters relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While National Post was not able to independently verify the documents, the Israel Defence Forces says the documents are authentic.
According to a Dec. 11, 2022, memo, the Canadian government gave over $300,000 to a project proposed by the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and implemented by the Ajyal Association for Creativity and Development, a Gazan NGO.
The document the IDF says it retrieved indicates that the project’s beneficiaries were selected from a list provided by the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Development, and includes details of security screenings conducted by Hamas on all the Ajyal staff working on the project. The Post contacted Ajyal for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.
There were allegedly 37 “team members” on the ground, including one listed as being aligned with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a listed terrorist organization in Canada.
Global Affairs Canada did not directly address the Post’s request for information on this specific project, and CRS did not respond to several requests for comment. However, according to Canadian government records, CRS was given grants of nearly $6.5 million in 2014, close to $10 million in 2019 and around $210,000 in 2020, all from Global Affairs Canada.
According to another document the IDF says it retrieved, dated Dec. 14, 2022, the AISHA Association for Woman and Child Protection, a Gaza-based NGO that received over $1 million from the Canadian government between 2018 and 2019, is listed as “co-operating” with Hamas’s Ministry of Interior and National Security. AISHA did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.
Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Alexandre Fournier told National Post that, “The Government of Canada does not tolerate any misuse or diversion of international assistance,” claiming that, “Canada exercises enhanced due diligence for international assistance funding through established funding agreements, ongoing oversight and a systematic screening process.”
He explained that there are “established mechanisms” through which Canada and other donors “ensure that relief and reconstruction efforts are not diverted and are used for intended purposes,” and that, “Global Affairs Canada officials in the region closely monitor programming activities to ensure compliance” with Canadian anti-terrorism legislation.
“Because delivering humanitarian assistance is complex and often involves partners working in unstable and high-risk environments,” he said that every humanitarian organization Ottawa partners with “must have strong safeguards in place and report suspected misuse immediately,” and that, “Canada has a no-contact policy with Hamas, as a listed terrorist entity.”
Nevertheless, the memos list dozens of workers from a variety of NGOs, including individuals Hamas purportedly identifies as its own operatives. An international emergency medical services NGO allegedly employed a Hamas “naqib” (captain). The British-based medical aid group was said to have an employee who was “affiliated with Hamas” and “works” with the Al-Qassam Brigades. The director of an Australian charity was also named as a Hamas member.
These documents were referenced in a 53-page report that NGO Monitor released in December, titled, “Puppet Regime: Hamas’ Coercive Grip on Aid and NGO Operations in Gaza.” Covering the period between 2018 and 2022, it describes how Hamas allegedly targeted numerous NGOs, including some that are funded by the Canadian government, for infiltration, in order to control and keep tabs on them.
Hamas would embed itself into the NGOs through the use of “guarantors,” Gazans who were hand-picked by Hamas to serve as point-persons with the charities, according to the report. They were required to hold senior roles at the organizations.
These individuals “can be exploited for security purposes, in order to infiltrate associations,” read a Dec. 14, 2022, document said to have originated from the Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security. On that very page, a female guarantor, whose name was redacted, was listed as being “affiliated with Hamas,” working as a lecturer at the University of Palestine and married to a Hamas sergeant.
A guarantor at the Canadian-funded Handicap International (now operating under the name Humanity & Inclusion) was also “affiliated with the Hamas movement,” according to the documents purportedly retrieved by the IDF.
According to government records, Handicap International received over $28 million in grants from Ottawa between 2019 and 2024. The organization did not respond to the Post’s numerous requests for comment.
“NGO Monitor’s research underscores the danger of oversight failures for humanitarian aid projects involving hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds. As the evidence demonstrates, these often become pipelines for the diversion of Canadian money by heinous terrorist groups and their affiliates,” said Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor’s president.
He added that the documents said to have been captured by the IDF in Gaza “clearly delineate the process by which Hamas systematically diverts aid from international NGOs, and how personnel from these organizations were aware of, and often co-operated with, this manipulation.”
The evidence, he said, is “now too obvious to ignore,” and the “blind approach to aid in areas controlled by tyrants and terrorist regimes” needs to change. Canada, in addition to other aid-giving countries, must “implement changes in order to ensure that stolen aid does not continue propping up Hamas in Gaza,” he said.
In his view, this will require “professional and independent teams to audit NGO partners and recipient lists, rather than relying on deceptive NGO and UN self-reporting. Funding to NGOs that fail to co-operate fully with the requirements of transparency and oversight will have to be suspended until they comply.”
National Post
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