The State Department approved a substantial food aid package to the Gaza Strip days after the U.S. intelligence community circulated an assessment which warned that Hamas sought to escalate rocket attacks against Israel, according to various reports.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed off on the $75 million payment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Oct. 3, despite concerns from Republican officials that Hamas co-opts UNRWA to facilitate terrorism and radicalism, according to an Oct. 4 report by Haaretz. On Sept. 28, the U.S. intelligence community circulated an update sourced by multiple intelligence streams that indicated Hamas was preparing to ramp up missile attacks targeting Israelis, according to CNN.
The $75 million payment was intended to provide food for people in the Gaza Strip, according to an Oct. 3 Twitter post by UNRWA’s U.S. arm. However, the UNRWA has a long history of being co-opted by affiliates of Hamas and other radical anti-semitic elements operating in the Palestinian territories, despite its noble stated intentions, according to Dr. Eric R. Mandel, the director of the Middle East Political Information Network.
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