'Funding terrorism': GOP lawmakers demand Blinken's plan for keeping $404M Gaza aid from Hamas

FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is demanding to know the Biden administration's strategy for keeping its recent $404 million Gaza aid package out of Hamas' hands.

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, a member of both the House Armed Services and Oversight committees, led a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday asking him to withhold the funds until his department can produce a "detailed account" of how the flow of dollars will be safeguarded.

"While we understand the intent of this package is to provide food, drinking water, education, shelter, and more for civilians in a war zone, we have major concerns that a significant portion of the funds will inevitably end up in the hands of the State Department designated terrorist organization, Hamas," Fallon led seven other Republicans in writing.

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS TRAP CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS, TAKE OVER AND VANDALIZE CAMPUS BUILDING

They pointed to accounts of Hamas seizing and diverting aid meant for civilians in Gaza who are struggling to survive amid Israel's war on the militant group. The lawmakers said that aid was being used "for terrorist activities aimed at killing innocent civilians and advancing their stated goal of the destruction of the State of Israel."

"The American people and the international community need assurances that funding for humanitarian aid does not end up funding terrorism," the lawmakers wrote. "It is the Biden Administration’s policy to support Israel, and indirect funding for Hamas would prove counterproductive to this mission by prolonging the war and increasing the death toll."

Blinken unveiled the new aid package during a conference on Gaza humanitarian assistance in Jordan last week.

US PARK POLICE INVESTIGATING