A group of conservative European lawmakers are demanding an urgent investigation into revelations showing that European Union-funded NGO’s were under the spell of terror organisation Hamas.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) declassified internal Hamas documents showing that the terror-group required EU-funded NGOs in Gaza to work with designated liaisons for close oversight.
Researchers from the Jerusalem-based institute NGO Monitor, an independent and nonpartisan research institute, combed through the documents and shared their findings with news outlet Euractiv on December 3.
NGO Monitor is dedicated to promoting transparency and accountability of NGOs claiming human rights agendas, primarily in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
It found that documents showed how Hamas’ Interior Security Mechanism embedded “guarantors” — Hamas loyalists — in NGO leadership roles such as directors or board chairs to monitor and control them.
It uncovered egregious examples of how the NGOs were under Hamas’ thumb.
They included an Oxfam programme funded by the EU to the tune of €800,000 for a water irrigation project in a security-sensitive border area. It was used for Hamas military purposes, providing tactical cover for “resistance activities” through fruit tree plantations
The International Medical Corps (IMC), also EU funded, closed its offices in Gaza for a week after refusing to submit financial and administrative reports to Hamas, only reopening after compliance.·
Cesvi, another EU-funded NGO, had at least one member identified as “affiliated with Hamas” in a 2022 Hamas document.
Reacting to the scandal, 15 MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) are asking the European Commission what steps it will be taking in light of the revelations.
They also asked if the EC would suspend or recover funding from the NGOs cited. It queried what enhanced vetting and monitoring mechanisms it would introduce for future EU funding to NGOs operating in high-risk areas such as Gaza to prevent infiltration by designated terrorist groups.
“These documents provide clear evidence that EU taxpayer money intended for humanitarian and development purposes risks being diverted or exploited to support the benefit of a designated terrorist organisation,” Sander Smit, Dutch MEP for the Farmer-Citizen Movement said.
“The European Commission has a duty to immediately investigate these grave allegations, suspend any compromised funding streams, and introduce robust safeguards to prevent Hamas or any other terrorist group from infiltrating EU-financed activities in the future,” he said.
“The European Union cannot continue to write blank cheques to organisations active in areas controlled by Hamas without iron-clad guarantees that not one euro ends up supporting terrorism,” Smit concluded.
In a statement to Euractiv, Oxfam said it “takes the risk of aid diversion extremely seriously in Gaza as we do in all areas of our operations globally”.
“Oxfam has no links to Hamas, or any other Palestinian armed groups. Hamas does not control, direct, or influence our programming work. No Oxfam funding goes to Hamas, or any other Palestinian armed groups.”
Brussels Signal reached out to the EC for comment but had received none by the time of publication.
An internal report by the BBC concluded that the media giant breached its own editorial guidelines by failing to disclose that the narrator of a Gaza documentary was the son of a Hamas official. https://t.co/N1BV5Ssaj4
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 15, 2025
