UK Coordination and NGO funding continued despite Hamas terror designation

London: Newly obtained internal Hamas documents demonstrate that close cooperation between the UK government and Hamas took place before the group was designated and continued afterwards, in apparent contravention of British policies. They show that UK officials held meetings with Hamas ministries in Gaza. Representatives of UK-funded NGOs also met with Hamas to discuss their funding status.

In November 2021, the United Kingdom designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. Despite repeated public assurances by the UK government that the designation would preclude cooperation with Hamas – as well as a longstanding policy of non-contact, documents by a Hamas security agency indicate otherwise. The documents, dated January and February 2022, point to sustained dialogue and operational coordination between a UK diplomatic representative and Hamas-controlled security institutions, as well as between UK-funded NGOs and the Hamas government.

These newly revealed documents raise damning questions about UK government denials regarding a May 2025 NGO Monitor report on a UK government aid program, in conjunction with UNICEF, that cooperated closely with Hamas-led bodies in Gaza.

NGO Monitor has obtained documents originating with the Gaza Interior Security Mechanism (ISM), an official organ under the Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security (MoINS – see Appendix for additional details on the MoINS and its Hamas leadership). The documents have been declassified by the Israeli army and can be accessed by the public.

The Interior Security Mechanism is responsible for uncovering, preventing, and investigating crimes that threaten national security and government bodies. It combats espionage, provides protection and security for officials and leaders, and responds to what Hamas sees as external threats to its security, including political opposition. It is also responsible for operating informants and defending against cyber attacks.

According to a February 2022 internal memo submitted by the ISM’s Department of Western Associations to the director of the Branch of Foreign Associations, the organ supervising international NGOs and enforcing Hamas policies on NGOs in Gaza, following the 2021 designation of Hamas by the UK, ISM personnel held a meeting with a representative of the British Consulate in Gaza.1 The meeting focused on UK-funded NGOs working in Gaza and the implications of the designation. According to the document, the British Consulate had closed its offices for one week, presumably to keep up the appearance of complying with the designation. Additionally, according to the document, the Gaza-based representative contacted the UK Consulate in Jerusalem, stressing the need to “continue the aid and visitation to the Gaza Strip” (all translations by NGO Monitor).

According to the document, the Consulate representative reassured ISM regarding UK funding, claiming, “the resolution of the UK to ban Hamas and designate it as a terror group shall not impact the projects funded by the UK government,” and “the resolution to ban Hamas was taken by the Ministry of Interior [i.e. the British Home Office] and not by the British Foreign Ministry [FCDO]” (emphasis added) – implying that the designation would not change UK relations with Hamas in Gaza.

Additionally, he informed the Ministry “of his cooperation with the relevant [Hamas-led] government and security parties.”

A second ISM memo submitted by the Department of Western Associations to the director of the Branch of Foreign Associations, outlines a meeting held with a representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and a former employee of Islamic Relief. The focus was to clarify the extent to which the UK’s terror designation would impact NGO operations and funding.

Following the meeting, ISM concluded that “the aid given by UK Foreign Ministry [FCDO] to foreign associations is not conditioned and it has no way to place its conditions in effect on the [funded] associations” (emphasis added). During the meeting, NRC expressed its inclination to “refuse conditional funding if those conditions were to be forced by the British Foreign Ministry.”

Furthermore, the NGO representatives reassured ISM that, “Until now, the UK Foreign Ministry has not requested from NGOs which it funds, any information about recipients of projects, or suppliers or the local employees in foreign associations.”

Additionally, ISM understood from the NGOs that “the British resolution 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 other words, if an NGO employee were affiliated with a proscribed terrorist organization, such as Hamas, that would not impact on the NGO and its funding.

In the concluding section of the document, ISM noted that even if the designation will affect funding to UK-funded NGOs, “in the long run, it will end [meaning funding will shortly be resumed].”

The internal Hamas documents reviewed by NGO Monitor reveal deeply troubling engagement between the UK government and the Hamas-led regime in Gaza, despite the UK’s formal designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization in November 2021 and a stated policy of non-contact. (This expands on previous revelations by NGO Monitor, showing the UK’s acquiescence to Hamas’ involvement in a UK-funded cash assistance program in Gaza, and belies the UK’s denials).

In addition, UK-funded NGOs have engaged with Hamas officials and stressed that UK funding and NGO activity would remain unaffected by the designation.

Rather than isolating Hamas and restricting funding that could be exploited by a terrorist regime, the UK government appears to have reassured Hamas authorities of continued cooperation and funding, with little to no conditionality or oversight. As illustrated in the documents, the UK does not appear to take vetting procedures seriously and did not screen local partners, staff, or beneficiaries regardless of terror ties.

This conduct undermines the credibility of the UK’s counterterror policies and raises serious concerns about the transparency and accountability of taxpayer-funded aid. By signaling that the terror designation carries no operational consequences, these interactions assist and legitimize proscribed terrorist organizations.

The Gaza Interior Security Mechanism (ISM) is an official organ under the Hamas Ministry of Interior and National Security (MoINS).

The Ministry commands the police force, along with other interior security forces responsible for surveillance, counter-espionage, political dissent, civil defense, border crossings, enforcement of Islamic law, and handling of prisoners in Gaza. After seizing control of Gaza in 2007, Hamas assigned the Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades to oversee the security forces under the Ministry.

The Interior Security Mechanism is responsible for uncovering, preventing, and investigating crimes that threaten national security and government bodies. It combats espionage, provides protection and security for officials and leaders, and responds to external threats that may affect security, including political opposition. It is also responsible for operating informants and defending against cyber attacks.

In January 2021, Naser Maslah was appointed as Minister of Interior and National Security in the Hamas government. A month prior to the October 7th Hamas attacks, Maslah met with “representatives of the resistance factions in Gaza” in a meeting set up by the ministry’s “unit for factions coordination” in order to strengthen cooperation and coordination with the terror groups. Participants included members of Hamas and PIJ.

Prior to Maslah, Tawfiq Abu Naim headed the Ministry (2016-2020). Abu Naim is a leading member of Hamas and one of the founders of its military wing. He served more than 20 years in Israeli prison for murdering Palestinian collaborators.

As of January 2025 and until his death in March 2025, the Minister of Interior and National Security was Mahmoud Abu Watfa, named by multiple news outlets as “a leading commander in Hamas.”