A new study contends that humanitarian organizations and other aid groups have repeatedly overlooked instances where aid meant for civilians was stolen by terrorist groups and authoritarian regimes, from Hamas in Gaza to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Last month, researchers Dr. Netta Barak-Corren of Jerusalem’s and Dr. Jonathan Boxman detailed the detrimental effects of aid diversion in conflict zones, including Somalia, Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and Afghanistan, before outlining the probable scenario of diversion in Gaza.
In Somalia, researchers discovered diversion “at every stage of the supply chain,” with nearly half of the World Food Programme (WFP) budget being consumed by cartel transportation payments, “ghost camps” siphoning off aid, family members of combatants registering for assistance, and local “gatekeepers” seizing aid.
Ultimately, the study estimated that only between 12.5% and 17.5% of aid reached Somalis in need.
Reuters reported on a “strictly confidential” internal report from July 2023, commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. This report contained assertions from Somalian internally displaced persons (IDPs) who claimed they were “coerced into paying up to half of the cash assistance they received to people in positions of power in the face of threats of eviction, arrest or de-registration from beneficiary lists.”
In Ethiopia, researchers noted that the WFP “looked the other way” regarding diversion, particularly as Ethiopian military personnel compelled local mills to process 30 metric tons of looted grain into flour for their soldiers.
The (USAID) identified this disparity and subsequently suspended aid to Ethiopia.
Reuters also found that the WFP had been aware of aid diversion in Ethiopia “for several years.” In response to concerns voiced in 2024, Cindy McCain, WFP director, publicly stated that the WFP maintains “zero tolerance for theft or diversion.”
During the Syrian Civil War, the report indicates that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad “dictated the terms of humanitarian assistance.” This involved diverting approximately 51% of aid through currency exchanges and declaring rebel-controlled areas too perilous for aid distribution.
David Adesnik, vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Digital that financing Assad created “a war of annihilation.” He stated it was “not just that you’re losing some aid or wasting it, but that you’re and causing more violence.”
While the U.N. has reported the disappearance of about 1% of aid, the authors’ report estimated that around 60% of beneficiaries did not receive aid, which was instead allocated to Houthi loyalists or sold on the market by unauthorized individuals.
In Sudan, warring factions attempted to deny aid to their adversaries. When WFP aid was looted, researchers reported that the organization failed to identify the culprits, “afraid of being expelled from Sudan.”
The researchers also report that two leading WFP officials faced an investigation “over allegations including fraud, and concealing information from donors” in Sudan.
In August 2024, the WFP informed Reuters that its Office of the Inspector General was examining “allegations of individual misconduct related to irregularities in pockets of our operation in Sudan.”
During the 2001-2021 Afghanistan war, Barak-Corren and Boxman discovered that roughly 40% of aid was diverted by the Taliban through methods such as taxing humanitarian organizations, demanding medical care for fighters, and placing members on humanitarian organizations’ payrolls.
The study found that international supervisors who uncovered these activities “avoid[ed] reporting to donors.”
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the Long War Journal, said he “suspects [diversion figures] are even higher. The Taliban was and still is adept at infiltrating aid organizations and diverting aid to fill their coffers.”
Although the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East () has denied aid diversion in Gaza, Barak-Corren and Boxman note that diversion has been reported by the WFP and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the authors, UNRWA “should be viewed as a streamlined aid diversion operation benefiting from a unique degree of international immunity and lack of accountability.”
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) declined to answer questions regarding diversion in other conflict zones or whether aid providers are incentivized to conceal diversion from donors.
A UNOCHA spokesperson stated that in Gaza, “we do not have evidence of systematic aid diversion from the U.N. to Hamas. The U.N. and our partners have strict monitoring in place, with oversight on deliveries when enabled to do so.”
The spokesperson added that the U.N. and humanitarian groups “have a range of measures in place … to mitigate the risk of aid diversion and provide effective oversight.”
Barak-Corren told Digital that UNOCHA’s “answer demonstrates the exact phenomenon we pointed out in our research, which is that the U.N. prefers to avoid and suppress the issue of aid diversion as a general problem rather than confront it.”
The U.N.’s own figures indicate that an estimated did not reach its intended destination between May 19 and Aug. 12.
An Israeli military official informed Digital that their concern lies with Hamas “controlling the aid, selling it, profiting from it, paying salaries, and including [recruiting] other youngsters to fight against us.”
The official explained that the U.N. is “not paying for it. , and not being responsible enough in order to avoid Hamas’ hands.” In this way, the official said, “they are assisting Hamas and helping to prolong this war.”
Reuters contributed to this report.