Hamas' Biggest Threat Is Humanitarian Aid From the US and Israel

AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

There is a massive--and I mean MASSIVE--propaganda campaign going on to convince the world that without UN food aid, Gaza will starve. 

Of course, throughout the war, we have been told that Gazans have been on the brink of starvation, and if any of those predictions had been true, the Gaza Strip would be depopulated. I wish I could say that I had a handle on the actual state of food availability in Gaza--I am certain it varies wildly--but the reality is that all the information coming out of Gaza comes from Hamas. 

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Those photos you see? Most of them are from the Syrian Civil War, about which the American liberals cared not a whit because it was Arabs killing Arabs. Photos of starving children from around the world, or even AI-generated photos, are appearing in newspapers as if they were from Gaza. 

Some of the photos from Gaza are of children who do appear to be starving, but it turns out that they are suffering from genetic diseases such as cerebral palsy. Their cases are tragic, but not caused by Israel. One photo shows a 275 lb mother holding her "starving" child. 

Still, there is likely a food crisis in parts of Gaza, and Hamas seems to welcome it. We do know that food prices have skyrocketed in recent weeks, indicating that the shortage is real. 

One obvious reason why these heartbreaking, if mostly fake, photos are being pushed out there is that it helps the Hamas war effort (and not coincidentally helps funnel money into the UN), but it is hardly the only one. 

There is another: aside from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, all the aid NGOs work with Hamas to some extent because it controls Gaza and is perfectly willing to kill anybody who crosses it. As a consequence, Hamas has kept the flow of revenue going throughout the war. 

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As always, follow the money. 

Hamas is demanding that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundations, which delivers 2 million meals a day, be shut down. Aid delivery trucks are being attacked, and food aid workers are getting killed.

It’s notable that shutting down the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the new U.S.- and Israel-backed aid group, was the no. 2 item on Hamas’s list of demands in cease-fire negotiations on Thursday, according to a U.S. official who viewed them. Another U.S. official adds that the GHF has “caused Hamas more fear than anything else has in the past two years.” Whatever its flaws, the new aid group usually provides some two million meals a day directly to Gazans free of charge. That’s a threat to Hamas, which fired a rocket at a GHF aid site on Thursday.

Instead of working with the GHF to make its sites safer for Gazans to access, the U.N. and other aid groups want it gone. Were the pressure to shut down the GHF to succeed, a U.S. official adds, “say goodbye to the hostages.” Hamas will have all the aid and control it needs and won’t make a deal.

“The answer is more aid, not less,” a GHF spokesman said Friday. Aid also needs to get to the weak, not only the strong, which is difficult when aid sites are rushed and trucks are looted. Opening an aid site to women only, as the GHF did Thursday, is one promising idea.

Israel is running out of time to ensure more aid gets through to Gazans. Blaming the U.N., though fair, doesn’t suffice. In a good sign on Friday, Israel allowed Arab states to resume aid airdrops. Jerusalem will also have to prove to its allies that the GHF can work and scale up operations, or risk losing their support.

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Critics say--with some justification--that Israel should divert its military resources to protecting aid deliveries. Perhaps, but that only serves Hamas as well. It will simultaneously give them breathing room and enhance the revenue flow to the terrorist group. 

Hamas has engineered this situation, and unfortunately, their strategy is working. Throughout the war, civilian suffering was an essential tool for the terrorist organization. The more the suffering in Gaza, the more Israel has been hurt in the court of international opinion. France is soon to recognize a Palestinian state--half of which is ruled by Hamas right now--which is a major victory. 

The biggest mistake in the war was Biden's holding Israel back. The longer this war dragged on, the more civilian suffering there would be. And the more civilian suffering, the more Hamas benefited. 

As can be seen in Israel's war on Hezbollah, a lightning victory--even if achieved through brutal means--saves lives in the end. By prolonging the war, Biden set the stage for today's crisis. 

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John Sexton 1:20 PM | July 28, 2025
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