Anera’s $50 Million Gaza Contract Faces New Scrutiny After PIJ Commander Claim
The U.S.-based aid group says it vets staff and partners against terror databases, but one of its Gaza coordinators was later named by Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a fallen Signals Corps. Commander
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Anera, a Washington, D.C.-based humanitarian nonprofit, announced in November 2024 that USAID had partnered with it on the Gaza Health Recovery Activity, a five-year, $50 million initiative to expand health services and psychosocial support across Gaza. Seven months later, Anera announced that Mahmoud Mohammed Rassrass, its Gaza psychosocial support coordinator, had been killed in an Israeli strike alongside two of his children.
On May 25, 2026, a statement by Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the U.S.-designated Palestinian Islamic Jihad, identified “Mahmoud Muhammad Rasras” as a fallen platoon commander in its Signals Corps, Rafah Brigade.
The apparent overlap raises urgent questions about Anera’s Gaza vetting, USAID oversight, and whether American-funded aid systems can detect militant ties among field personnel operating inside Hamas-ruled territory.
Anera’s Gaza Coordinator
In June 2025, Anera identified Rassrass as its psychosocial support coordinator in Gaza for the previous 14 months. The organization said it hired him in March 2024 as a consultant and that he became part of its education and psychosocial support team, leading daily activities for children and structured sessions for adolescents, parents, and teachers.
In a separate memorial, Anera said Rassrass was born in Gaza in 1986, held degrees in psychological counseling and social sciences, and previously worked with MAAN Development Center, Save the Children, and the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution. Most recently, Anera wrote, he led its efforts to help Gaza children and families cope with wartime trauma.
Anera’s Vetting Claims
Anera has repeatedly said it rigorously screens individuals and agencies against OFAC and SAM.gov databases, signs U.S. anti-terrorism certifications, and does not engage or coordinate with Hamas. In another statement, Anera said it vets and re-vets partner organizations and immediately ceases work if a person or group appears in federal databases tracking terrorist organizations and affiliates.
That makes the Rassrass case a direct test of the system Anera says it operates. The organization has not publicly disclosed whether Rassrass was screened before his March 2024 hiring, whether he was re-vetted after the USAID award, or whether any donor-funded compliance review examined Gaza-based psychosocial staff, facilitators, vendors, or local partners. Anera has also not indicated whether it notified USAID or opened an internal review after Al-Quds Brigades publicly identified a matching name as one of its commanders.
The Broader USAID Risk
Anera had already hired multiple staff and begun partner and community assessments before a USAID stop-work order paused the activity in early 2025.
The case lands amid broader federal concern about aid diversion in Gaza. In May 2026, USAID’s inspector general reported that USAID had 18 active humanitarian awards in the West Bank and Gaza, valued at $650 million, between January 2023 and October 2024. The audit found USAID used partner vetting to check implementers and beneficiaries against public and nonpublic terrorism-related databases, but warned that selective vetting, policy exemptions, and information shortfalls could increase the risk of diversion to entities associated with terrorism.
GAO previously found that USAID generally complied with West Bank and Gaza anti-terrorism procedures during fiscal years 2020 through 2022, but also documented compliance reviews that found missing or late vetting of subawards and unreported subaward activity.