What happened
UNICEF told the Washington Examiner that it has never had a partnership agreement with the Sameer Project and has not paid for any of the group’s work. The agency said it is contacting the organization to correct references to UNICEF on its website.
The Sameer Project, founded in 2024, described itself on its website and social media as working with the U.S.-funded United Nations Children’s Fund to deliver water, education, and other humanitarian resources in Gaza. The group and its U.K.-based founder, Hala Sabbah, deleted four posts praising Hamas, an Iranian strike on Israel, and Islamic armed resistance after the Washington Examiner raised questions about them, according to archived web pages.
Sabah did not respond to multiple requests for comment and subsequently deleted her X account. The International Organization for Migration also denied any partnership or relationship with the Sameer Project after one of its videos showed a tent bearing the IOM logo.
NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group, said in a July report that the Sameer Project received funding from American donor James Chambers. Chambers, described by the outlet as a Marxist activist, is in Spanish detention contesting a U.S. extradition request involving allegations of riot, conspiracy to riot, and money laundering. U.S. officials have alleged that Chambers laundered money to fund Hamas, with a money trail that included the Sameer Project, according to the Guardian.
Sameer Project employees said GoFundMe shut down their fundraising in summer 2025 as the platform addressed security risks tied to Gaza crowdfunding. The group also posted that it had been repeatedly rejected for institutional funding because of its stated stance on Palestinian liberation.
