Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Thursday that President Joe Biden's proposed $100 million aid package to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza will not "make it" to the people who need the help.
"We would be very concerned that this would end up in Hamas' hands," Blackburn said during "Wake Up America" on Thursday. "We know that even in the last week, as medical supplies, food, fuel has gone into Gaza that it has been intercepted by Hamas, and they are using it for the troops. It is not making it to people who were in need of humanitarian aid."
Biden announced the aid package during a trip to Israel on Wednesday.
"President Biden announced today that the United States is providing $100 million in humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank," the White House said in a press release. "This funding will help support over a million displaced and conflict-affected people with clean water, food, hygiene support, medical care, and other essential needs.
"The United States provides humanitarian assistance through trusted partners including UN agencies and international NGOs."
Blackburn, however, said Hamas has a record of taking humanitarian money from the Palestinians and using it to fund its military operations against Israel, such as the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks that killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
She said the theft of aid money in the past from an agency of the United Nations led former President Donald Trump to curtail the aid, while Biden reinstated $730 million to the agency.
"Trump cut all the funding to the agency, but Biden put it back, full steam ahead, and has put $730 million into that agency," she said. "They hire Hamas affiliated people who steal the money and then use the facilities in Gaza to store weapons and ammo. So, we know what Hamas does, and we are very concerned that the president would consider U.S. taxpayer dollars going into this type of relief."
Blackburn also criticized President Biden for not speaking about the 30 Americans killed in the attacks two weeks ago and the Americans among the more than 200 people held as hostages by Hamas in Gaza.
"I would have thought he would have mentioned that the Americans that have lost their lives," she said. "I thought he would have mentioned concern for the Americans who are being held hostage.
"I thought he would have mentioned concern for the Israelis that have died, have lost their lives. We've got thousands of people injured. We don't know how many Americans are in those numbers."
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Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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