How did humanitarian funds end up in Hamas' pockets?

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) commander Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai issued a serious indictment of Hamas this week, accusing the movement of abusing aid funds intended for the needy residents of the besieged Gaza Strip. The highly publicized accusation was posted on COGAT’s Arabic-language website Al-Munasq to send a clear message to the Palestinians that even as they were suffering deprivation and poverty, Hamas was partying at their expense. The post read, "The egotistical Hamas terror organization has robbed funds that are meant for the needy of Gaza from international organizations. Hamas prospers at the expense of the residents of the Strip and uses donations meant for them to finance terror. How long will the world and the Gazan people ignore this?"

About a month ago, Israel detained Muhamad Murtaja, who in recent years headed the Gaza branch of the Turkish humanitarian aid agency TIKA. In a March 21 indictment, Israel accused Murtaja of abusing his position to help Hamas activists. According to the information issued by the COGAT’s office, Murtaja invented a list of needy Palestinian students residing in Gaza, withdrew $3 million for them from the organization’s account and transferred the money to members of Hamas.

Another example of these money-transfer schemes was described by the COGAT as a “terrorism wedding.” TIKA transferred $4 million to Gaza for a mass wedding ceremony for young Gaza couples. Murtaja is said to have told investigators that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his son, Abdel Salam, together with other senior officials of the organization, made up the list of participants and excluded anyone not a member of the organization.

Mordechai was cautious in formulating his accusations, stressing that the heads of the Turkish aid agency were not involved in the embezzlement and had not known about the theft.