Before he was killed alongside his wife and two children in Gaza last month, Hani Jnena, 33, sent a final message to his colleagues in the West Bank.
“My daughters are terrified, and I am trying to keep them calm, but this bombing is terrifying,” he wrote, referring to Israel’s campaign of airstrikes and artillery bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.
Jnena, a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, died along with his family after an Israeli airstrike hit the Al Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City on Nov. 4, according to a statement his employer provided to The Washington Post.
He is among hundreds of humanitarian and development workers killed during the two-month conflict, a statistic that has infuriated USAID officials who want the Biden administration to intensify pressure on Israel to limit the civilian bloodshed.
USAID officials, some of whom endorsed an open letter last month urging a cease-fire in Gaza, told The Post that the Biden administration should use its leverage to force a change in Israel’s behavior. That would include placing restrictions on the billions of dollars in military assistance the United States provides to Israel every year. “We’ve seen far too much inaction from the White House and USAID leadership on this issue,” said one USAID official, who like some others interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss disagreements with U.S. policy.
“The U.S. concern about these casualties remains almost purely rhetorical. There is no policy leverage being put behind it whatsoever,” said Konyndyk, president of Refugees International. “Beyond expressing concern and expressing regret, that’s where it stops.”
Besides frustration directed at the White House, several USAID employees expressed disappointment that the killing of Jnena was not acknowledged by the agency publicly or in internal staff-wide communication. USAID Administrator Samantha Power has been aware of his death since at least late November, when she sent a letter to the CEO of the USAID contractor he worked for, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
Pretty much all USAID work is accomplished by contractors. Most USAID employees exist only to set up and monitor the contracts. These contractors have US-based staff that compete for the contracts and then manage the ones they win. If they win, they hire contract staff.
When you read the news and see something like the “US gave $30 million to Uganda to improve its education system,” it really means USAID gave an American contractor some money to run a program in Uganda that hires some technical experts who work with the government of Uganda on improving education. Usually, the program is led by an American, who despite being a contractor gets the same pay and benefits as a foreign service officer. The rest of the staff are locals and make a generous salary for the area, but still based on the local cost of living. USAID approves all the salaries.
Contractors do get killed in the line of work as they work in often dangerous areas of the world. The government is not responsible for compensating them or their family, but often the contracting company they work for offers a benefit.