Internal documents from the Hamas Security Mechanism reveal how the jihadist movement has transformed international NGOs, UN agencies and European funds into a parallel apparatus of surveillance and influence
To truly understand what it means today to evoke the reconstruction of Gaza we need to return to what, for a long time, remained out of the public gaze. The confidential documents of Hamas Security Mechanism – collected and disseminated by the Israeli research center Ngo Monitor – outline a mechanism which, step by step, has absorbed the entire international assistance sector. What over the years was born as an ecosystem of independent, local and foreign actors, partly supported byEuropean Unionwas gradually remodeled until it worked as an extension of the political, ideological and military architecture of the jihadist movement.
The presence of international NGOs – from the British Map UK And Human Appeal to the Americans Mercy Corps, Anera And Catholic Relief Servicesup to enormous organizations such as Oxfam, Save the Children, International Medical Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Handicap International, Médecins du Mondethe Belgian section of Doctors Without Borders And Action Against Hungeras well as European realities such as the Italian one Cesvi, WeWorld-Gvc, Educaid Italy, DanChurchAid, Terre des Hommes Switzerland, Iocc And SOS Children’s Villages – has never represented a real space of autonomy. Every intervention, small or large, was filtered by Ministry of the Interior and of Hamas national security, which decided whether to allow, suspend or reshape the projects in light of its strategic objectives.
The control, however, did not stop at official permits. Hamas had in fact imposed on all these entities the figure of the so-called “guarantors”: local managers placed at the top operational levels of the Gaza offices. Many were militants of the movement; some had direct links to the al-Qassam Brigades. The leaked reports note cases involving handlers of Map UK, Human Appeal, International Medical Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council and even a representative of the local branch of Cesvi, beneficiary of European funds, who held religious and administrative roles within the power structure. These figures allowed the ministry to infiltrate the internal processes of the NGOs, monitoring their meetings, the use of resources and staff dynamics, effectively transforming them into information channels useful to the Islamist organization.
The personal files drawn up on each guarantor are impressive: notes on religious practices, family and romantic ties, financial status, criminal records, online activities and even daily habits. A meticulous surveillance apparatus, built to ensure Hamas a constant flow of information, pressure and blackmail. The interference did not even spare technical projects: for example, the water program financed by the EU and implemented by Oxfam in the area of al-Fukhari it was used by the movement to maintain a stable presence in crucial military areas. In other situations Hamas asked local partners – as happened with the company Rai Consult – to orient interventions according to the needs of the “resistance”.
Organizations that attempted to defend some form of independence were immediately marked as “hostile.” Save the Childrenfor example, was subjected to operational limits and invasive controls. International Medical Corps saw its offices closed for months, until the forced signing of a “financial review” imposed by Hamas as a condition for being able to reopen. Not even data management escaped manipulation. Forms intended to identify beneficiaries or evaluate the impact of programs were modified by eliminating any entries that might expose the location of underground tunnels, military infrastructure, weapons depots or wounded included in the militias. International personnel themselves were subject to a prior approval process: they were sifted through to exclude anyone who might pose a risk to the secrecy of the armed apparatus.
An apparently banal episode explains the dominant dynamic well. During a field visit, a beneficiary asked a team about Norwegian Refugee Council whether the subsidence of the floor of his home could be linked to the construction of a tunnel. Nobody answered. The delegation preferred to remain silent, aware that even a simple confirmation could put them in conflict with Hamas. That silence is the symbol of an entire humanitarian season in which presumed neutrality has become a formal concept, emptied of substance. UN agencies, International NGOs And funded institutions by Western governments they ended up working within a system of conditioning that transformed aid into a political lever at the service of the organization that controls the Strip. And all this involved a colossal economic flow. Over the last twenty years, Gaza received approx $45 billion in funds and assistance programsa significant portion of which comes from Europe. A mountain of resources which, in the intentions of the donors, should have been supported development, welfare And recovery, but which in reality was intercepted and largely bent to the military and power priorities of Hamas.
