A Massive Gaza Fundraising Drive That Never Reached Gazans

A scandal involving a Turkey-based Muslim Brotherhood charity has ignited new scrutiny over the organization’s financial networks, after Hamas itself publicly accused Brotherhood figures of stealing vast sums raised in the name of Gaza relief.

According to Arab media reports, the Muslim Brotherhood diverted roughly $500 million in donations collected through Waqf al-Ummah, a Brotherhood-linked charity that ran a major global fundraising campaign for Gaza. Investigations found the funds “failed to deliver… to their rightful recipients.”

The accusations did not come from Western governments or watchdog groups — but from Hamas, which issued a rare and sharply worded statement in January 2024 denouncing the charity. Hamas formally disavowed the organization, banned all dealings with it, and accused Waqf al-Ummah of exploiting the war “to collect large sums of money” that never reached civilians.

Hamas Blowback Reveals a Deeper Problem

While Hamas condemned the scandal, experts caution that the group’s outrage is largely performative — not a reflection of internal reform. The Muslim Brotherhood’s theft, they note, simply exposed a long-standing financial ecosystem shared by both organizations.

As one analysis put it, the $500 million fraud “revealed a corrupt fundraising ecosystem that both groups have relied on for years — the same ideological network, the same opaque money channels, and the same pattern of exploiting Gaza for political and financial gain.”

Experts: Exploiting Gaza Is a Pattern, Not an Exception

Arab researcher Maher Farghali argues the scandal is not surprising — only its scale.

“It is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood to exploit Gaza and Palestine for money,”
— Maher Farghali (Jerusalem Post)

Farghali notes the Brotherhood has repeatedly used Gaza’s suffering as a fundraising vehicle, and that the unusually large sums involved this time made the scandal politically explosive — even inside Hamas.

This episode, analysts say, aligns with decades of evidence showing Brotherhood networks diverting charitable funds, exploiting crises, and spreading the same anti-Western ideology that inspired groups like Hamas and al-Qaeda.

A Global Network: Brotherhood Ties Reach Into Western Organizations

The fallout is also renewing scrutiny of Muslim Brotherhood-aligned organizations outside the Middle East. A Times of Israel analysis reports that founders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) “emerged from the ashes of US-based Hamas fundraising entities.”

Given that Hamas openly identifies as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, researchers argue these origins place CAIR within the same ideological and organizational ecosystem — including its opaque fundraising channels.

U.S. lawmakers have taken notice. In August 2025, Senator Tom Cotton requested an IRS investigation into CAIR’s nonprofit status, citing “deep ties to terrorist organizations, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right… It should not subsidize organizations with links to terrorism.”
— Sen. Tom Cotton (U.S. Senate letter)

How the Muslim Brotherhood’s Crisis Reflects Its Global Decline

Analysts at the Washington Institute note that the Muslim Brotherhood has been facing mounting organizational crises and diminishing capabilities. The Gaza scandal — exposed not by foreign governments but by Hamas — is fueling renewed debate over how the Brotherhood operates globally, both ideologically and financially.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, operates today as a transnational Islamist network whose ideas shaped extremist movements across the Middle East. Its influence on Hamas and other radical groups is widely documented, and researchers have long warned about its ability to move funds through charitable fronts and political advocacy networks.

What the Scandal Means for Gaza — and for Donors Worldwide

The scale of the theft has intensified criticism from across the Arab world. Hamas’s accusations, though politically motivated, confirm what experts have said for years: the Muslim Brotherhood routinely exploits Gaza for financial and ideological gain.

As Hamas itself stated:

“It took advantage of the situation in Gaza to collect large sums of money… but failed to deliver these funds to their rightful recipients.”
— Hamas statement, Jan 2024 (Jerusalem Post)

The Brotherhood’s ability to raise — and allegedly divert — such vast sums highlights weaknesses in international oversight of charitable organizations operating in conflict zones. It also raises new questions about fundraising accountability among Western groups with historic Brotherhood ties.

Bottom Line: A Global Pattern of Corruption

The Muslim Brotherhood’s $500 million Gaza aid scandal is not simply a case of mismanagement. It exposes a global pattern of ideological extremism, opaque financial operations, and exploitation of Palestinian suffering — a pattern that extends from the Middle East to Western activist networks.

For Gaza’s civilians, the consequences are immediate and devastating. For donors worldwide, the scandal underscores a larger lesson: organizations tied to extremist movements cannot be trusted to handle humanitarian aid.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s fundraising network, once seen as a powerful political force, is now facing unprecedented scrutiny — revealing a system where ideology, corruption, and financial exploitation have long gone hand in hand