The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish organization best known for the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla, is outlawed in Israel due to its ties to Hamas. So why is it operating freely in Gaza?
Recently released footage depicts IHH vehicles emblazoned with Turkish flags distributing water and clearing rubble in the war-torn enclave. At first glance, it looks like a benign act of relief. But for those who know IHH’s record, it is something else entirely: another example of how groups with extremist histories exploit humanitarian cover to entrench the grip of terror groups and their state sponsors- in this case, Hamas rule and Turkish influence in Gaza.
Founded in Turkey in the 1990s, IHH has a history that stretches far beyond soup kitchens and aid convoys. According to Israeli intelligence and open-source reporting, IHH has for years funneled funds and equipment to Hamas’ military wing, assisted with weapons procurement, and helped construct training facilities in Gaza. It was banned by Israel in 2008. As noted, in 2010, it played an instrumental role in the flotilla that infamously ended in bloodshed after activists on board violently attacked Israeli forces.
IHH is also part of the Union of the Good, a coalition “named as a foreign terrorist organization” by the US Treasury for funneling funds to Hamas. Turkish authorities themselves once raided IHH offices and found weapons and bomb-making manuals. This is not the resume of a neutral relief agency.
IHH's presence a harbinger of detriment for Gazans
Its track record of diverting humanitarian aid for extremist purposes extends beyond Gaza. In the 1990s and 2000s, IHH helped smuggle weapons to militant factions in Syria and assisted Chechen fighters in transferring funds to al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia. Under the guise of charity, IHH has repeatedly acted as a facilitator for violent extremist groups.
Given this context, IHH’s presence in Gaza is particularly alarming, a harbinger of detriment for Gazans desperate for real rebuilding.
This is not a hypothetical risk. NGO Monitor, the research institute where I work, has documented multiple instances in which Hamas has co-opted international aid organizations for its own military and political objectives. For example, in June 2016, Israel’s Shin Bet arrested Mohammed El-Halabi, the Gaza operations manager for the international NGO World Vision, on charges of diverting $50 million in aid to Hamas for the construction of tunnels and other terrorist infrastructure.
The World Vision case is not an anomaly, but rather part of a broader system in which Hamas systematically manipulates humanitarian channels. NGO Monitor has further documented how many NGOs operating in Gaza have long been aware of Hamas’s systematic embedding within hospitals and civilian infrastructure, yet chose to acquiesce, turning a blind eye to the group’s exploitation of humanitarian spaces.
Against this backdrop, IHH’s operations in Gaza fit a similar pattern. Hamas and its allies co-opt “humanitarian” structures to sustain their control, access resources, and advance their political agenda. The fact that IHH, of all groups, is operating there in such a formal capacity, mere days into the ceasefire and as Hamas works overtime to reestablish authority, suggests that its presence is not incidental. IHH offers what Hamas values most: resources, legitimacy, and a direct line to Ankara.
Turkey, for its part, has long used IHH as a soft-power tool. It gives Ankara the appearance of compassion while signaling loyalty to Islamist allies and defiance toward Israel. The Turkish flags painted on IHH trucks in Gaza are not just a branding choice- they are a political message.
When an organization with IHH’s track record drives aid trucks through a Hamas-run territory, it must be read through the lens of a brutal political campaign dressed in humanitarian language. It normalizes the presence of terror-linked entities, undermining genuine relief groups that risk their lives to operate independently and according to international standards.
Moral rot at the heart of politicized humanitarianism
IHH’s presence raises broader questions for donor governments and UN agencies working alongside “local partners” in Gaza. How many of them know who is actually behind the aid chains? How many can confidently say their funds and supplies are not being co-opted by actors like IHH, whose allegiance lies with Hamas and the Turkish government, not the civilians of Gaza? Fundamentally, are taxpayers’ resources actually helping Gazans? Or are they maybe even hurting them?
The return of IHH to Gaza is not a side story; it’s a warning. It signals that despite Israel’s and America’s repeated efforts to isolate Hamas’ military and financial networks, the same players are finding new ways to reinsert themselves, this time under humanitarian pretexts. Hamas is effectively defeated militarily, but it is continuing the fighting in new and troubling ways.
This saga exposes the moral rot at the heart of politicized humanitarianism, where bad actors take advantage of legitimate global instincts of compassion to strengthen rogue regimes and chip away at the free world’s soft power. America and its allies must recognize this for what it is, and ensure that groups like IHH, banned and censured for their terror ties, can no longer operate freely in political vacuums with sky-high stakes.
Ariella Esterson is a senior researcher at NGO Monitor.