 "No condoms for Gaza: Why Donald Trump has suspended ‘$50-million contraceptive programme’")
When Donald Trump was campaigning to be the US president, he had promised to trim the country’s spending in an attempt to ‘Make America Great Again’. And within a week in office, the US president is sticking to his words by announcing a freeze on almost all foreign assistance.
And on Tuesday (January 28), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in her first press meeting said that the US president’s move was justifiable, giving the example of the $50-million condom distribution programme in the Gaza Strip.
But what’s really going on? Did the US actually earmark $50 million to distribute condoms in the Gaza Strip? We try to get the lowdown.
No more condoms for Gaza
On Tuesday (January 28), Donald Trump’s 27-year-old press secretary announced that as part of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent suspension of foreign assistance, Washington would withdraw millions of dollars allocated for “condoms in Gaza”.
Briefing reporters, Leavitt said that the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which is led by ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk, and the White House Office for 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”.
Karoline Leavitt: "DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza. That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer dollars." pic.twitter.com/mbdAOg12b3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 28, 2025
“That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that’s what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars,” she said, adding, “President Trump is looking out for you in issuing his pause.”
Her comments came as journalists questioned her on Trump’s decision to suspend US overseas assistance . Earlier, the US president had ordered a 90-day freeze in foreign assistance. He then said that he would ensure aid that conforms with his policies, which oppose abortion, transgender rights and diversity programs.
Following this up, Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo last Friday said that the United States was freezing nearly all aid disbursement except for emergency food and military aid to Egypt and Israel. However, facing outcry, he widened exemptions, saying Washington would keep funding humanitarian items such as shelter and medicine. According to AFP, the memo defined humanitarian assistance as “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance”.
But there could be another reason for suspending the condom programme in Gaza. Past reports show that condoms have been used by militants in Gaza to launch improvised explosive devices into Israel in 2017.
The Jerusalem Post in one report said, “Condoms and balloons with explosive devices attached to them landed in schoolyards, agricultural fields, and highways and caused significant physical and psychological damage. Thousands of hectares of land were burned, and these IEDs caused millions of shekels of damage.”
In 2019, the Chicago Tribune reported, ‘Flaming condoms, kites, balloons from Gaza used to set fields ablaze in southern Israel’. The report stated how condoms were being misused by militants. “Sometimes tied together for added buoyancy, the inflated prophylactics are attached to gas-soaked rags, other burning items or explosive devices, then flown over the border like balloons into southern Israel, where they set fire to farmlands and nature reserves … an estimated 6,000 acres have been destroyed in hundreds of blazes caused by flaming kites, helium balloons, and now condoms.”
Claims dismissed
However, Leavitt’s claims have been refuted by former White House officials. Andrew Miller, who served as deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs in the previous administration, called the claim “outlandish”.
“It’s possible that $50 million is put aside for sexual health or something of that nature, which would include gynaecology and many other services, but definitely not condoms alone,” he told The Times of Israel.
Data from the US Agency for International Development shows that Washington spent $60 million in 2023 on injectable contraceptives, contraceptive implants, IUDs, male condoms, oral contraceptives, Standard Days Method and female condoms across the globe and not just in Gaza.
Moreover, condoms generally cost less than a dollar in the US and even less in bulk. Take that into account with the population of Gaza, which is just over two million people.
Trump’s freeze on foreign aid and judge’s block
In the first week of Trump's return to the White House , he announced via executive order a sweeping halt on foreign assistance. The order, titled ‘Re-evaluating and realigning United States Foreign Aid’ that “no further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States”.
In the executive order, Trump said, “The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values. They serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”
Furthermore, he put a pause on all such programmes for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals. This is in line with the US president’s previous statements in which he has remained critical of foreign aid, saying it amounts to big spending for Washington. However, data doesn’t support this theory.
However, a federal judge Loren L AliKhan has temporarily blocked this effort, stating that federal agencies, states and other organisations that receive money from the federal government should continue to receive funds beyond a previously set deadline of 5 pm ET.
Critics further argue that a freeze on funding is unlawful because Congress has already approved the money to be spent. However, Trump’s administration argues that the action is a temporary review and hence, within his presidential authority.
With inputs from agencies
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