No proof that $ 50 million was appointed by the US to buy condoms for Hamas

During a signing ceremony Wednesday for the Lake Riley Act claimed President Donald Trump that his administration had “identified and stopped $ 50 million sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas.”

Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary in the White House, made a similar claim on Tuesday During her debut press briefingWhere he stated that the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget “found that there was a $ 50 million taxpayer dollars going out the door to finance condoms in Gaza.” She called the alleged help “an inappropriate waste of taxpayer money.” But there is no credible evidence to support these claims.

Here’s a closer look at Facts:

Claim: Trump administration prevented $ 50 million from being sent to the Gaza Strip to buy condoms for Hamas.

FACTS: Trump and his spokesman seemed to refer to a grant or grant granted by USAID a group called International Medical Corps worth $ 102.2 million to provide medical and trauma services in Gaza. The Ministry of State earlier Wednesday described this as an example of “irregular funding” that was not in line with US interests or president’s policies.

The Ministry of State spokesman Tammy Bruce in the same way wrote on Tuesday On X that the agency had “prevented $ 102 million in unjustified financing to a contractor in Gaza, including money for contraception” thanks to a Pause in foreign assistance.

Officials said the Trump administration stopped two $ 50 million buckets with “Help” to Gaza via International Medical Corps, which included: Family Planning Programming including emergency speakers; sexual health care including the prevention and handling of sexually transmitted infections (STIs); and teenager’s sexual and reproductive health.

$ 100 million for these programs included contraception, officials said, adding that condoms have traditionally always been used for family planning in developing countries.

According to the IMC, “no US government financing was used to acquire or distribute condoms nor provide family planning services.”

Said imc in a Press release that it has received $ 68,078,508 from USAID to support its operations in Gaza since October 7, 2023. They said resources were used to operate two large field hospitals currently located in Central Gaza – one in Deir Al Balah and one in Al Zawaida – offering a combined overall capacity of more than 250 beds, including 20 on the emergency and 170 in the surgical department. These facilities have provided medical treatment around the clock to approx. 33,000 civilians a month.

IMC said since January 2024 it has provided healthcare to more than 383,000 civilians who had no other access to services or treatment, including performing about 11,000 operations. According to statistics provided by IMC, they also helped with the delivery of approx. 5,000 babies, screened 111,000 people for malnutrition, treated 2,767 for emergency malnutrition and distributed micronutrient powers to 36,000 people.

Refugees International President Jeremy Koningdyk, who monitored USAID’s Covid-19 Assistance Portfolio of the Biden Administration, rejected Trump and Leavitt’s claims Wednesday at X.

“USAID acquires condoms for about $ 0.05 per Piece, ”he wrote. “$ 50m would be a billion condoms. What’s going on here is not a billion condoms for Gaza. What is going on is that the brides on DOGE apparently cannot read government pieces. “

USAI’s fiscal year 2023 Report At birth control and condom shipments, the latest available data notes that only a Middle Eastern country – Jordan – received a small shipment of injections and oral contraception valued at $ 45,680 for government programs. This was USAI’s first shipping to the Middle East since the financial year 2019.

USAID reports from the first three -quarters of 2024 show that the only family planning programs financed by the Agency in the Middle East were in Jordan and Yemen.

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Associated Press Authores Ellen Knickmeyer and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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