What’s The Condom Story to Gaza All About?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday defended President Donald Trump’s order to freeze federal funding, claiming that $50 million had been earmarked for the distribution of condoms in the besieged Gaza Strip.

However, a review of the latest publicly available data from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on condom shipments, covering 2023, reveals no such shipments to Gaza.

In fact, the only shipment to the Middle East that year was a $45,680 delivery to Jordan, which was noted as the first condom shipment to the region since 2019.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) found “that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza,” Leavitt told reporters during her inaugural press conference. “That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money.”

But she did not provide any evidence to support the claim. Anadolu reached out to the White House for clarification but did not immediately receive a response.

USAID’s 2023 report shows that the US delivered over $60 million in contraceptives and condoms globally, with 89% of funds directed to Africa, 9% Asia and 2% to Latin America.

The Trump administration has frozen nearly all foreign assistance programs for at least 90 days, sending shockwaves across the world as countries grapple with an abrupt halt to a range of programs funded by Washington, from development to humanitarian assistance. The US is the largest source of international assistance.

The order, however, includes exceptions for Israel and Egypt, which annually receive $3.3 billion and $1.3 billion in foreign military financing, respectively according to Anadolu.