Bella and Gigi Hadid to donate $1M to Palestinian aid groups, including UN agency with alleged Hamas ties
Supermodel sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid plan to donate $1 million to support Palestinian relief efforts — and have set some of the cash to go to the UN’s embattled Palestinian refugee aid agency, whose employees have been linked to Hamas.
The funds have been earmarked to be equally distributed among four organizations aiding Palestinian women and children, among them the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In January, UNRWA announced it had fired nine of its 12 staffers who Israel alleged were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that left roughly 1,200 dead, with another 253 kidnapped.
A damning Israeli dossier, compiled through interrogations of Hamas terrorists and documents found in Gaza, estimated roughly 1,200 of UNRWA’s staffers had ties to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The UN aid agency has previously come under fire from US House Republicans for allegedly aiding Hamas with “food, fuel and supplies” intended to provide humanitarian relief amid the terror group’s war with Israel.
The United States cut off all funding to UNRWA through March 2025 under the $1.2 trillion spending bill passed earlier this year.
Other organizations set to receive the donations from the Hadid siblings are HEAL Palestine, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and World Central Kitchen.
The Hadids, whose father is Palestinian-American real estate tycoon Mohamed Hadid, have been outspoken about their support for Palestinians affected by the ongoing war in Gaza.
In May, Bella Hadid wrote on Instagram that she was “devastated at the loss of the Palestinian people and the lack of empathy coming from the government systems worldwide.”
Earlier this week, Bella Hadid posted a photo of herself at the Cannes Film Festival wearing a dress with a keffiyeh pattern in a “to represent the history, labor of love, resilience and, most importantly, the art of historic Palestinian embroidery.”
In November, however, Gigi Hadid was criticized for falsely claiming Israel was “the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war,” while also accusing Israelis of a number of heinous crimes against Palestinians, including rape and murder.
Mohamed Hadid, meanwhile, has demonized President Joe Biden as a “Zionist criminal” and had to apologize after sending a barrage of racist and homophobic messages to US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who is a staunch champion of Israel.
