The U.K. government maintained a close collaboration with Hamas even after designating it a terrorist organization, according to internal Hamas documents declassified by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and published by the human rights organization NGO Monitor.
A Parliamentary resolution to ban Hamas and designate it as a terror group “shall not impact the projects funded by the U.K. government.”
A September 20 report by NGO Monitor reveals that the collusion continued despite the government proscribing Hamas “in its entirety” on November 26, 2021, and assuring the public that the designation would preclude collaboration or contact with Hamas.
The exposé raises questions over the extent of the U.K. government’s cooperation with the terrorist outfit as the government announced September 21 that it had “formally recognized” the state of Palestine, “to protect the prospect of a two-state solution as the appalling situation in Gaza worsens.”
The documents also cast doubt on the government’s denial of a May 25 NGO Monitor investigation, which uncovered U.K. cash aid for Gaza via UNICEF from 2022 until 2026 in coordination with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Social Development (MoSD).
Memo Disclosing Consular Envoy’s Meeting with Hamas
Among the records discovered by the IDF is a February 2022 internal memo documenting a meeting between a British Consulate representative and personnel from the Gaza Interior Security Mechanism’s (ISM) Department of Western Associations (DWA), which operates under the Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security (MoINS).
The Interior Security Mechanism is responsible for enforcing Sharia law in the Islamist-run enclave and for overseeing the police force and prisoners in Gaza. It also oversees the Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, known for their use of terror tactics against Israel and Hamas’ first suicide bombing in 1993, carried out in coordination with Islamic Jihad.
The Arabic document reveals that the British consulate envoy reassured officials in Gaza that the government’s “resolution” to” ban Hamas and designate it as a terror group “shall not impact the projects funded by the U.K. government.”
The document also indicated that the proscription would not alter Britain’s relationship with Hamas, since the decision to ban Hamas was made not by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) but by the Home Office.
The envoy said he had informed U.K. officials “of his cooperation with the relevant [Hamas-led] government and security parties.” He said he had contacted the U.K. Consulate in Jerusalem and asked it to “continue the aid and visitation to the Gaza Strip.”
U.K. officials went ahead and provided millions of pounds in funding even though they “were aware of Hamas involvement and the significant diversion risks in Gaza cash-assistance programs,” the NGO Monitor investigation found.
Memo Revealing U.K. Government Intention to Continue Funding
A second memo, sent by the Department of Western Associations to the Interior Security Mechanism’s Branch of Foreign Associations, states that the aid given by the U.K. to associations operating in Gaza is not conditional and the U.K. government “has no way to place its conditions in effect” on associations receiving the funding.
Dated January 10, 2022, the memo documents a meeting between a Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) representative and an ex-employee of Islamic Relief, held to clarify the extent to which Britain’s proscription of Hamas would impact NGO operations and funding.
For years, and well-before Oct 7, we at @NGOmonitor have repeatedly been calling out governments and demanding a complete investigation and overhaul of the humanitarian aid system in Gaza. 11/
— Anne Herzberg (@AnneHerzberg14) May 25, 2025
During the meeting, the envoy from the Norwegian Refugee Council advised Hamas to “refuse conditional funding if those conditions were to be forced by the British Foreign Ministry.” Thus far, the FCDO “has not requested any information about recipients of projects, or suppliers, or the local employees in foreign associations, from NGOs that it funds,” the NRC representative added.
As per the memo, Hamas understood that the proscription “will not have an impact on the designation of local employees in foreign associations which receive funding from Britain because they are non-governmental organizations.” In the memo, ISM concludes that even if the proscription temporarily impacts U.K. funding, “in the long run, it [the ban] will end.”
U.K. Government Admits Pumping Millions into NRC Projects
Based on the responses to Freedom of Information requests, NGO Monitor confirmed that the U.K. government directs funds to the NRC through its Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF) which, according to the government’s website, “tackles conflict, stability, and security challenges overseas which threaten U.K. national security.”
In March 2024, Baroness Ruth Deech asked the FDCO in the House of Lords how much it channeled to the NRC in 2022 and 2023, and how much it expected to send to the Norwegian Refugee Council in 2024, for its work in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Lord Tariq Ahmad admitted that the government was funding the NRC for projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but “not currently supporting NRC work in Gaza.” He added that the U.K. committed to giving the Norwegian Refugee Council £9.45 million between 2022 and 2025.
From October 2023 to April 2024, the U.K. granted $53.53 million to an “OPT Flash Appeal,” issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This money was meant to “address the most urgent needs of 1,260,000 people in the Gaza Strip (Gaza) and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” NGO Monitor noted. In 2024, the U.K. provided the OCHA Humanitarian Fund with around $13.6 million for the West Bank and Gaza.
“For years, and well before Oct 7, we at @NGOmonitor have repeatedly been calling out governments and demanding a complete investigation and overhaul of the humanitarian aid system in Gaza,” Anne Herzberg, a human rights lawyer, author, and U.N. representative for NGO Monitor, posted on X.
Herzberg warned that much of the U.K. funding sent to Hamas is not transparent, noting: “We identified more than 95 million pounds of humanitarian support in West Bank/Gaza as going to ‘supplier name redacted’ on the UK DevTracker website.”
The FCDO did not respond to a request for comment.
