PA Daily subtly accuses Hamas of stealing foreign aid
Headline: “The aid to Gaza is not being distributed. Who is stealing it?”
“Trucks in aid convoys pass through the roads of the Gaza Strip every day, and on each one of them appears the flag of a sister state or friendly state. They are loaded with packages of food products whose traces disappear quickly, and coupons are distributed to a number of poor families in a manner that does not match the quantity.
Mahmoud Sharab, a 36-year-old taxi driver, said: ‘I see dozens of aid convoys loaded with food products that pass every day through Saladin Road, which connects Rafah Crossing in the south and Beit Hanoun in the north.’ He added: ‘The aid that is distributed does not in any way match the very great quantities that I see coming in. If they were distributing it fairly, it would certainly be reaching every needy person.’
Abd Al-Rahman Barakeh, 50, a truck driver distributing goods to businesses, saw a convoy with dozens of trucks bearing the flag of Malaysia enter the refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip and suddenly disappear…
He noted that by virtue of his job, he noticed that on some of the products was written ‘A gift to the Palestinian people’ or ‘Not for sale.’ Therefore, why are they not distributing them all immediately to the needy and the poor?
Barakeh said: ‘Storing the aid is illogical. It should be distributed to all the poor and the needy, without considering their party affiliation.’ We must not repeat what happened in the last war against Gaza, when large convoys arrived loaded with medicine as aid that was stored and not used. As a result of this it spoiled, and no benefit could be derived from it.
Muhammad Al-Najjar, 25, who works in packing goods into distribution trucks, emphasized that he sees a large number of trucks loaded with goods that enter [the Gaza Strip] nearly every day, when on each one of them appears the flag of a state such as Malaysia, Turkey, Qatar, Algeria, Egypt, and others. Al-Najjar, who’s been forced to work in transporting by the circumstances… said: ‘My work is not constant. Every day [I’m in a different] district. I always see aid convoys, especially in the blessed [Muslim fasting] month of Ramadan. [The aid] is stored in storehouses, but it is not visibly recognizable that they belong to official institutions.’
He added: ‘One day, while we were unloading the goods for a business in the Nuseirat [refugee camp] in the central Gaza Strip, we were surprised to discover a large quantity of cases of valuable canned goods, with “A gift from the Italian people to Gaza” written on them.’ He wondered: ‘How are they taking care of this aid, and why is it not being distributed to the poor?’
Al-Najjar noted that the aid is being stored and distributed on a sectorial-party basis (i.e., to Hamas supporters), and therefore it does not reach all the poor. He added that not insignificant quantities remain of it, which are being sold to businesses at lower prices.”