{"id":263530,"date":"2026-08-25T04:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/263530\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T04:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T04:57:12","slug":"drugs-found-in-gaza-aid-as-idf-destroys-hamas-mosque-depots-arrests-terrorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/263530\/","title":{"rendered":"Drugs found in Gaza aid as IDF destroys Hamas mosque depots, arrests terrorist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Defense Ministry&#8217;s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-906389\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">COGAT<\/a>), said Monday that drugs had been smuggled into the Gaza Strip inside food products intended as humanitarian aid for residents of the Strip.<\/p>\n<p>In a post on X\/Twitter, COGAT said the incident was based on a report by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-906055\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">World Central Kitchen (WCK).<\/a> The post was published on the agency\u2019s English language account, which is aimed at the international community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">According to WCK, drugs were discovered concealed inside packages of canned peppers during the unloading of aid shipments and food preparation at the organization\u2019s kitchens in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The packages contained six bundles of hashish weighing approximately 600 grams in total, along with an additional 160 grams of other illegal substances.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The incident demonstrates once again that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-906324\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hamas<\/a> will stop at nothing to exploit humanitarian aid for its own needs,&#8221; COGAT said.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid wait at the Kerem Shalom crossing before entering the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, August 12, 2026.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"822\" height=\"829\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/images.jpost.com\/image\/upload\/f_auto,fl_lossy\/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822\/734973\"\/>Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid wait at the Kerem Shalom crossing before entering the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, August 12, 2026. (credit: Tsafrir Abayov\/Flash90)Hamas &#8216;main obstacle&#8217; to improved conditions in Gaza, COGAT official asserts<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The agency added that it &#8220;strongly condemns the serious smuggling of drugs&#8221; and said it would continue working with all relevant parties against &#8220;any attempt to abuse humanitarian aid mechanisms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;The incident demonstrates once again that Hamas will stop at nothing to exploit humanitarian aid for its own needs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The report came a day after COGAT published an analysis claiming that the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip significantly exceeds humanitarian needs as defined by UN agencies, international organizations, and assessments conducted throughout the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">&#8220;Hamas remains the main obstacle to further improving the situation in the Gaza Strip,&#8221; a senior COGAT official said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The official added that &#8220;the organization interferes with humanitarian activity, exploits civilian infrastructure, influences distribution mechanisms and continues its repeated attempts to smuggle prohibited items under the guise of humanitarian aid.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Forces destroy weapon depots in Gazan mosques, arrest West Bank terrorist<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) recently destroyed two Hamas weapons depots in northern Gaza, the military and ISA said in a joint statement on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The weapons, aid the statement, were stored inside two mosques in the Shati and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-904464\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Deir al-Balah<\/a> areas. Among the weapons were &#8220;dozens&#8221; of Kalashnikov rifles, magazines, and other equipment, it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Additionally, advance warning was given before the strikes, which used precise munitions and aerial surveillance in an effort to reduce harm to civilians, the military said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">In another statement on Monday, the army announced that the elite undercover Duvdevan force arrested Hamam Khazem in Jenin, who was &#8220;planning to carry out an attack inside Israel.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Footage from Duvdevan Unit forces\u2019 operation to arrest a terrorist in Jenin, August 24, 2026 (IDF SPOKESPERSON&#8217;S UNIT)<\/p>\n<p>Khazem&#8217;s father, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/defense-news\/article-906177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Fathi Khazem was killed by IDF troops<\/a> last week after the army said he tried to stab a soldier. Raad Khazem, Hamam&#8217;s brother, carried out the 2022 shooting at Dizengoff Center, murdering three Israeli civilians and resulting in his own death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Moreover, the army said another terrorist &#8220;working to advance an attack&#8221; against Israelis was arrested in the West Bank village of Sanur on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Defense Ministry&#8217;s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said Monday that drugs had been smuggled&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[43110,29547,1411,72532,423,37,5539,29747,13073,545,1413,6905],"class_list":["post-263530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-cogat","tag-gaza-israel","tag-hamas","tag-hamas-human-shield","tag-idf","tag-israel","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-jenin","tag-mosque","tag-terrorism","tag-the-october-7-massacre","tag-west-bank"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117154378485284529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}