US-funded condoms not sent to Gaza Strip, Musk admits

Trump’s efficiency czar walks back claims that USAID was spending tens of millions of dollars on condoms for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, after Gaza Province confused with Gaza Strip.

By World Israel News Staff

Claims by the Trump administration that the United States federal government sent tens of millions of dollars’ worth of condoms to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip were incorrect, Elon Musk acknowledged during a press briefing.

Musk, the billionaire tech mogul tapped by President Donald Trump to head the new Department of Government Efficiency, held an impromptu press briefing with reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, defending his agency’s work.

When questioned over DOGE’s claim last month that the USAID agency had spent $50 million dollars on condoms for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip – despite pushback from reporters who said they found no evidence of any such transfer – Musk acknowledged that the initial claim was the result of a mistake.

While USAID had in fact funded a program providing condoms to Gaza – to the tune of $50 million – the Gaza in question was not the Gaza Strip, but a province named Gaza in the African nation of Mozambique.

“We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said, downplaying the issue.

The DOGE administrator added that he was still critical of U.S. funding for the program.

“I’m not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms anywhere, frankly,” he said.

“If the condoms went to Mozambique instead of Gaza, then fine, it’s not so bad, but still, why are we doing this? I’m not sure that’s something the American people would be happy about. That’s an enormous number of condoms.”

After DOGE made its initial claim that USAID was funding the shipment of condoms to the Gaza Strip, Trump claimed Hamas had “turned [the] condoms into bombs,” citing the past use by Gaza terrorists of makeshift balloons for incendiary bombs against Israel.