UK Charity Under Investigation Over Alleged Links to Hamas Network
The U.K-based We Care Foundation faces investigation over its funding of Qawafil Al Khair in Gaza—an organization that IDF documents show diverted funds to Hamas fighters
A British humanitarian organization faces scrutiny after Israeli military documents allegedly revealed that a Gaza-based charity it funds provided logistical support to Hamas fighters. The We Care Foundation, a Birmingham-based international development charity, has been funding the Qawafil Al Khair Association in Gaza — an organization that Israel recently designated as a terrorist entity.
Documents released by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on November 20, 2025, purportedly show internal Hamas records from 2023 indicating that Qawafil Al Khair Association channeled resources to the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. The records allegedly reveal that funds ostensibly designated for humanitarian relief—including food parcels and construction materials—were redirected to support Hamas fighters. One document reportedly describes a specific request for financial assistance to a Hamas operative.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), an association of pro-Israel lawyers, initially raised concerns with the English Charity Commission in February 2025 about the We Care Foundation’s open fundraising for Qawafil Al Khair. Following the IDF’s document release, UKLFI submitted the new evidence to regulators.
Background of Qawafil Al Khair
Qawafil Al Khair, which translates to “convoys of good,” was established in 2015 and publicly describes its mission as providing emergency relief services—including food, clothing, and sponsorships—to vulnerable families in Gaza. However, according to UKLFI, the organization was founded by Mansour Rayan and Ali Al-Mughrabi, both former terrorists released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange.
Al-Mughrabi, who had been convicted for involvement in a 2002 suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed 11 people, was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis earlier this year. Additionally, Rayan was convicted of murdering an Israeli civilian in a stabbing in 1994.
UKLFI director Caroline Turner stated that supporting an organization that assists families of Hamas fighters “amounts to assisting Hamas, a terrorist organisation” proscribed under UK law. While Israel has designated Qawafil as a terrorist organization, it has not been sanctioned by the UK government.
Regulatory Investigation & Charity’s Response
The Charity Commission had already opened a statutory inquiry into the We Care Foundation in January 2024—predating the Hamas allegations—focused on concerns about trustee decision-making and undisclosed payments to trustees and their related companies. The charity’s bank accounts were subsequently frozen in March 2024, with transactions now requiring prior commission approval.
Despite the frozen accounts and ongoing investigation, the charity has continued accepting donations. A recent fundraising campaign by We Care trustee Shazia Malik has raised over £250,000 toward a £600,000 target for Qawafil.
We Care Foundation has denied knowingly funding any Hamas-linked organizations, describing the allegations as “unfounded.” The IDF stated that the recovered documents represent “only the tip of the iceberg” regarding Hamas’s exploitation of charitable organizations in Gaza.