The Biden administration reportedly sent tens of thousands of dollars to an organization with clear ties to Hamas just weeks before it launched a surprise attack against Israel that started the current war in the region. The news comes as Israel continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip, and after reports suggesting that the State Department may have indirectly funded the terrorist group despite warnings from government officials.

NGO Monitor. a group that monitors non-governmental organizations, revealed that the White House granted these funds to the Phoenix Center for Research and Field Studies.

The State Department approved two grants to the Phoenix Center for Research and Field Studies, established in 2021 under Gaza University, valued at $30,088 for an August 2023-July 2024 project and $60,000 for a September 2023-August 2024 project.

The Phoenix Center’s website reveals senior members of Palestinian terrorist organizations participated in multiple conferences and panels previously hosted by the center, which backed “armed resistance” against Israel, NGO Monitor reported.

The attacks began Saturday at daybreak, when Hamas launched thousands of rockets into Israel.

The recipient of the grant is listed as the “Finiq Center for Field Studies and Researches.” NGO Monitor attributes the different spelling to a phonetic error, since its address matches the Phoenix Center’s address.

NGO Monitor found that one of the discussions hosted by the center concluded with the decision that “the priorities of future agendas must include the need to reintegrate armed resistance and popular resistance.”

Salah Abdalati, the Phoenix Center’s Director of Programs, has expressed support for “armed resistance” and acts of terrorism in the past.

“Symbolic and popular resistance, in all its forms, whether its … going on strike, mutiny, marches, confronting occupation forces…or escalating armed resistance, or other forms and methods of ingenuitive combat, must strengthen in various Palestinian communities so that resistance becomes a way of life,” he wrote in a Feb. 24, 2023 Facebook post, translated by NGO Monitor.

This development comes months after another report suggested the Biden administration may have given funding directly to Hamas despite warnings coming from government officials.

According to documents that the news outlet obtained, officials working in the State Department warned that the agency could be funding Hamas by sending aid to the Palestinians.

State Department officials in 2021 outlined the concerns in private communications, asking the Treasury Department to exempt them from laws that bar the U.S. government from injecting taxpayer aid into territories controlled by Palestinian terror groups. The Biden administration needed this authorization in order to move forward with its plans to unfreeze more than $360 million in U.S. funds for the Palestinian Authority that were cut off during the Trump administration due to the authority's support for terrorists.

"We assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza. There is less but still some risk U.S. assistance would benefit other designated groups," the State Department wrote in a draft sanctions exemption request circulated internally in March 2021, shortly after Biden took office. "Notwithstanding this risk, State believes it is in our national security interest to provide assistance in the West Bank and Gaza to support the foreign policy objectives."

The documents—obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust—show the Biden administration was privately worried its efforts to restart Palestinian aid could benefit Hamas and other terror factions operating in the Gaza Strip. As officials publicly provided assurances to Congress and the press that this aid would be doled out "consistent with U.S. law," the State Department was scrambling to secure a sanctions exemption that would let it skirt anti-terrorism laws.

The administration ignored the warnings, which means there is a decent chance that the White House could have provided valuable funding for Hamas.

The funding granted to the Phoenix Center was ostensibly intended for projects aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of Palestinian USG alumni, along with helping students develop other skills. Yet, it appears it may have provided a space for people affiliated with radical extremist views to promote terrorism and even help to coordinate violence.

These are only two known examples of how the Biden administration could be funding Israel’s enemies, which could wind up blowing back on the United States. While the information about the State Department’s funding of Hamas is the subject of a lawsuit, it is possible that a congressional investigation into how the government inadvertently funds terrorist organizations is warranted.