Members of Congress have assembled a plan that would bring to a halt the Biden administration’s funding of the Hamas terror organization.

Funding that group is complicated as it is the “government” in the Gaza Strip, having taken power through an election years ago and canceled votes that ordinarily would have been held since.

In that position, it has access to humanitarian “aid” that is sent to the region.

When President Trump was in office, he canceled America’s donations to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which dispatches funding that Hamas can access.

Joe Biden immediately restored that funding when he took office, and has already given more than $1 billion to the UNWRA.

Now Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., want to call a halt.

According to a report in the Washington Stand, Ricketts explained, “UNRWA is a corrupt organization. The Trump administration said it was corrupt beyond repair. And that’s why they said, ‘no more money for UNRWA.’”

He added, “The reason that that funding was cut originally was because UNRWA was housing Hamas people in their buildings … or weapons, rather, they were storing for Hamas. They hired Hamas agents. They had textbooks that glorified terrorism.”

The report noted evidence has emerged just recently that UNRWA workers “publicly cheered” the terror atrocities Hamas committed on Israeli civilians Oct. 7.

Ricketts and Scott now have introduced legislation to cut off funding to Hamas through the UNRWA, and other channels.

The report cited the U.K.-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education which revealed this week “how UNRWA employees and education activists cheered and encouraged the October 7 terror attack, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, wounded more than 5,000 Israelis, and kidnapped more than 200 hostages.”

That report said 13 UNWRA employees, including teachers, “publicly glorified the October 7 terrorist attack on social media. One teacher shared a video claiming that the Hamas massacre was ‘the first real victory’ on the way to ‘liberating’ Palestine — which would require the annihilation of Israel.”

One of the schools run by UNRWA in the region, on social media, “posted a video of a student praying that Allah would ‘give victory to their Jihad warriors,’ invoking battles throughout Islamic history. The video is captioned, ‘the school is a safe and stimulating environment.’”

UNRWA schools also have been documented to encourage martyrdom, vilify Jews and erase Israel from maps.

“The U.S. doesn’t fund Taliban curriculum. It doesn’t fund Islamic State curriculum. But through its voluntary donations to UNRWA, it is funding Hamas curriculum,” Monique Beadle, director of Advancement for the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, told the Stand.

“Gaza’s children aren’t learning about peace and co-existence in their U.N. schools. It’s time to deal with the reality that American taxpayers are underwriting the radicalization of thousands of children.”

The report noted the Biden administration, in reversing Trump’s shutoff of funding, gave UNRWA $338 million in 2021, $344 million in 2022 and $296 million in 2023.

“The Biden administration knew at the time that it was possible for Hamas to commandeer funds intended for the UNRWA, according to internal documents the watchdog group Protect the People’s Trust obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request,” the Stand confirmed.

“Due to its overall strength and level of control over Gaza, we assess there is a high risk Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from U.S. assistance to Gaza,” said a statement from the director of the State Department’s Office of Threat Finance Countermeasures.

UNRWA itself has admitted the Hamas “looted” aid intended for refugees, the report said.

Trump’s decision to cut off Hamas funding had been opposed at the time by dozens of Democrats in Congress.

“The Senate Democrats want to continue to give money to Hamas — and humanitarian aid. And they’re still funding the United Nations and UNRWA,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

The new plan would cut funding to UNRWA and freeze “economic support funds” for Gaza and the West Bank until Israel has dismantled the terror organization.

This article was originally published by the WND News Center.

This post originally appeared on WND News Center.