The international community has promised to send $5.2 billion in aid to Gaza to help it rebuild after Israel’s war with Hamas. The United States has pledged $900 million of that amount—with two thirds of this going to the Palestinian Authority and one third to Gaza. Many worry that this money could end up in the hands of Hamas.

“To route $900 million to this area, and let’s say Hamas was only able to steal 10 percent of that, we [the U.S.] would still become Hamas’s second-largest funder after Iran,” U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk told FOXNews.com.

Even if the money does not directly fund Hamas, it will still support the terrorist organization. Efraim Inbar, head of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said this kind of aid “signals to Hamas that it can continue shooting; for if Israel repeats its military action, merciful Westerners again will repair the damage. … The reconstruction of Hamastan in Gaza—an Iranian base that threatens Israel and many moderate Arab regimes—makes no strategic sense.”

But Inbar believes that Hamas is bound to get its hands on a significant portion of the cash. “There is no way to reconstruct Gaza without strengthening Hamas,” he said. “From what we know of the fortunes of the humanitarian aid transferred to the Gazans in recent years, it is clear that a large proportion of the benefits of the external aid will be siphoned off to the Hamas leadership.”

A large part of the aid to Gaza is expected to be given to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (unrwa). unrwa systematically provides political cover for Hamas, a senior Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post recently. Caroline Glick wrote February 27:

unrwa openly collaborates with Hamas. Its workers double as Hamas combatants. Its refugee camps and schools are used as Hamas training bases and missile launch sites. Its mosques are used as recruiting grounds. And as unrwa’s willingness to transfer a letter from Hamas to U.S. Sen. John Kerry during his visit to Gaza last week demonstrated, the UN agency is also willing to act as Hamas’s surrogate.

unrwa allows no outside audit, does not screen any of its 23,000 employees for links to terrorists, and allows its employees to openly affiliate themselves with Hamas. unrwa’s ambulances transport weapons and explosives for Hamas. Terrorists are given paid teaching positions at its schools. Awad al-Qiq, for example—who led Islamic Jihad’s engineering unit that built Qassam rockets and bombs—was a headmaster at one of unrwa’s schools. Forbes, the National Review Online and the Jewish Policy Center all have run excellent articles detailing unrwa’s links with Hamas.

This is the organization that the U.S. and other donors are funneling money through. unrwa’s United Nations stamp of legitimacy means that it will receive much of the aid headed for Gaza.

So, after Israel fights Hamas to destroy their weapons, Hamas will receive a slew of extra cash to rebuild. Who knows, they may even be able to turn a profit.

Because it failed to destroy Hamas, Israel’s war on Hamas has actually worked out in Hamas’s favor. Before long, the terrorists will have rebuilt and regrouped—posing an even greater danger to Israel. For more information, see our article “Israel’s Gift to Hamas.”