White House claims $50M aid for condoms in Gaza lack evidence

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze federal funding on Tuesday, asserting that USD 50 million had been allocated for distributing condoms in the besieged Gaza Strip.

However, activists started sharing a review of the most recent publicly available data from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on condom shipments for 2023 which shows no evidence of such shipments to Gaza.

Andrew Miller, who served as deputy assistant secretary for "Israeli"-Palestinian affairs under former President Joe Biden, dismissed the claim as “outlandish.”

He shared his statement with The Times of Israel and published it on his X account.

No, the Biden Administration did NOT spend $50 million on condoms for Gaza. White House either can’t read a simple spend table or it’s lying. My quotes in @TimesofIsrael @JacobMagid https://t.co/lbHXUIhRcB

— Andrew Miller (@AndrwPMiller) January 29, 2025

To add further context, the US has frozen its foreign aid, excluding military assistance to Egypt and “Israel” as well as emergency food aid, pending a comprehensive review to determine alignment with President Donald Trump’s policy priorities.

According to an internal memo from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to staff, obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the freeze halts all new funding or extensions of current projects until each is reviewed and approved in line with President Trump’s agenda.

The memo highlights that emergency food aid—particularly for Gaza following the ceasefire between Hamas and "Israel"—remains exempt from the freeze.