United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher has demanded that Israel provide evidence for its accusations that staff with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs were affiliated with Palestinian militants Hamas,

Israel has long restricted or completely blocked aid to Gaza on the argument that Hamas steals it to use as a weapon of control over the population.

IDF International Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani dismissed the report as “fake news. ” Anonymous IDF officials claimed there was no evidence to suggest thatHamas routinely stole humanitarian aid,