FACT FOCUS: No evidence that $50 million was designated by the US to buy condoms for Hamas
During a signing ceremony Wednesday for the Laken Riley Act, President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had "identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas."
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, made a similar claim on Tuesday during her debut press briefing, stating that the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza.” She called the alleged aid “a preposterous waste of taxpayer money.” But there's no credible evidence to support these claims.
Here's a closer look at the facts:
CLAIM: The Trump administration stopped $50 million from being sent to the Gaza Strip to buy condoms for Hamas.
THE FACTS: Trump and his spokesperson appeared to be referring to a grant or grants that USAID awarded to a group called the International Medical Corps worth $102.2 million to provide medical and trauma services in Gaza. The State Department earlier Wednesday described this as an example of “egregious funding” not aligned with American interests or the president’s policies.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce similarly wrote Tuesday on X that the agency had “prevented $102 million in unjustified funding to a contractor in Gaza, including money for contraception” thanks to a pause in foreign assistance.
Officials said the Trump administration stopped two $50 million buckets of “aid” for Gaza via the International Medical Corps, which included: family planning programming including emergency contraception; sexual healthcare including prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs); and adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
The $100 million for these programs included contraceptives, officials said, adding that condoms have traditionally always been used for family planning in developing countries by USAID.
According to the IMC, “No US government funding was used to procure or distribute condoms, nor provide family-planning services.”
The IMC said in a press release that it has received $68,078,508 from USAID to support its operations in Gaza since October 7, 2023. They said the resources were used to operate two large field hospitals currently located in central Gaza—one in Deir Al Balah and one in Al Zawaida — offering a combined total capacity of more than 250 beds, including 20 in the emergency room and 170 in the surgical department. These facilities have provided around-the-clock medical care to about 33,000 civilians per month.
The IMC said that since January 2024 it has provided healthcare to more than 383,000 civilians who had no other access to services or treatment, including performing about 11,000 surgeries. According to statistics provided by the IMC, they also assisted in the delivery of some 5,000 babies, screened 111,000 people for malnutrition, treated 2,767 for acute malnutrition and distributed micronutrient supplements to 36,000 people.
Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk, who oversaw USAID’s COVID-19 assistance portfolio for the Biden administration, refuted Trump and Leavitt’s claims Wednesday on X.
“USAID procures condoms for around $0.05 apiece,” he wrote. “$50m would be ONE BILLION condoms. What’s going on here is NOT a billion condoms for Gaza. What’s going on is that the bros at DOGE apparently can’t read govt spreadsheets.”
USAID's financial year 2023 report on contraceptive and condom shipments, the most recent data available, notes that only one Middle Eastern country — Jordan — received a small shipment of injectables and oral contraceptives valued at $45,680 for government programs only. This was USAID's first shipment to the Middle East since financial year 2019.
USAID reports from the first three-quarters of 2024 show the only family planning programs funded by the agency in the Middle East were in Jordan and Yemen.
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Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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