Do GoFundMe campaigns ‘for Gazans’ end up in Hamas’s hands? - investigation

The Jerusalem Post has obtained access to a database that features over 1,200 GoFundMe campaigns related to Gaza, in which over $17 million have already been collected by people claiming that they are from Gaza or by those claiming to seek donations on behalf of Gazans. The Post has queried GoFundMe regarding these findings.

An analysis of the data acquired revealed that at least six different forms of currency were raised in these campaigns, including Canadian, Australian, and US dollars, pounds, euros, and kronor, implying that the campaigns originate from diverse areas worldwide.

Many fundraising pages seem to follow a similar format, with a foreign “sponsor” giving an introduction and presenting the family, the needs, and the costs. Some of these sponsors are private, while others are promoted by organizations, including chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, who stood behind the encampments across US campuses.

Notably, over the past few weeks, several Gazans have complained that funds collected through some of these campaigns never make it to the public.

Examples of such fundraising enterprises include GoFundMe campaigns by Nour and Nagham Abu-Halima (doctors and sisters on the ground in Gaza), Gazan influencer Saleh Al Jafarawi, the self-proclaimed journalist Bisan Odeh, and others – all of whom faced criticism on social media for collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars with nothing reaching the citizens themselves.

Some campaigns called to donate money to “save families from genocide,” asking for tens of thousands of dollars under the claim that these amounts would only cover the expenses of one crossing over to the Egyptian side of the border alone, after which several thousand more would be needed to cover further travel expenses to Western countries.

Significantly, there are some disparities regarding the alleged costs of crossing to Egypt, with estimated prices ranging from several hundred dollars per person to $10,000 per person.

In January, the French Le Monde published an expose that showcased a network of brokers and agencies operating on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing who sell permits for exorbitant prices of thousands of dollars to guarantee an exit from the Gaza Strip. Many Gazans also perceived this procedure as a form of bribery for shady characters operating at the border crossing.

These descriptions of bribery and funding for sketchy operations on the Egyptian border are evidently missing from what the campaigns on the GoFundMe website promote, which raises the question of whether donors are aware that their donations are in fact financing dubious activity, or not.

Another question in this regard concerns the legality of funding the transfer of large families into other countries with no full disclosure regarding immigration laws or visa statuses.

Furthermore, the matter of Hamas’s domination over fiscal activity in Gaza is also absent. It has already been revealed that Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from Gazan banks – several times over in the past two decades – and some Gaza-based banks have been designated by the US and others for years as being affiliated with terrorist activity over these banks’ direct ties to Hamas and its network of terrorism.

None of these issues were disclosed in the samples of the GoFundMe campaigns that were tested, raising further questions regarding the donors’ awareness of the possibility that their donations are not ending up in the hands of the people that they wish to assist, not to mention, ending up in Hamas’s hands, whereby the funds are implemented toward the financing of the radical group’s terrorist activities.