Middle East Madness > Gazans Blame Hamas for Food Shortages

 

What the world hasn't come to realize in its deliberate naivety is that Hamas is not fighting for Gazans. They are fighting for Hamas. The more Gazans suffer and die, the better it is for Hamas' propaganda machine, which is so effective in the far-left mainstream, antisemitic media.

Gazans Blame Hamas for Food Shortages

Aug 26, 2025 4:00 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

The UN and a host of agencies specializing in famine relief claim that Israel is deliberately starving the civilians in Gaza, while the Israelis blame Hamas, for stealing, hoarding, and reselling so much of the food aid meant to be distributed for free to Gazans. They can’t both be telling the truth. Now the Gazans themselves, suffering from malnutrition — which is not the same thing as enduring a “famine” — have had their say here: 

Are Palestinians really facing a famine in Gaza? – explainer

The Media Line, August 24, 2025:

The UN is preparing a declaration of famine in Gaza City, holding Israel responsible for the humanitarian crisis under its revised criteria, in spite of footage and testimony that Hamas is looting aid and manipulating media coverage.

The Media Line’s reporter has been speaking to Gazans throughout the war. The following is a sampling of their responses. TML was also in Gaza City and witnessed a large amount of humanitarian aid available, including an abundance of food, but offered at exorbitant prices.

The situation for those living several miles away in the refugee camps has been complicated by the lack of access to food available in other areas.

Who is to blame in Gaza?

Gazans described Hamas looting aid and reselling it. “First of all, we have no food, no water, none of life’s basics. And second, we never see any of the aid that comes in,” Ibrahim Atta Hawila of Jabalya said. “Hamas takes the aid. They don’t want anyone else to be in control. They seize it, store it in warehouses, keep what they want, and hand us lentils.”

Ali Khamis al-Tanini, also from Jabalya, expressed grief over the loss of three grandchildren as the crisis continues: “We can’t find food. I have heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. I can manage a day or two without food, but the children can’t. This little girl can’t eat, can’t even stand; she hasn’t had anything. Why did Hamas leave us with nothing while they eat lamb and beef?”

He added, “Hamas did this to us. We can’t even find a bite to eat. Not even lentils – the merchants have hidden those and everything else.”

Others voiced the same anger. Ahmad Fayad told The Media Line that his young daughter had gone 10 days without milk. “I hold Hamas responsible. They’re the ones who brought us to this point. I blame Hamas, and I also blame the Arabs – and even the Jews.”

Ne’ma Abu Saleh said, “Others are eating and stealing, while we sit here with nothing. I blame Hamas.”

He continued, “Let them release the hostages and stop dragging us into their problems. What do they want from us? Our homes are already destroyed.”…

COGAT emphasized that more than 10,000 aid trucks have entered Gaza since May and that the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed over 2.2 million relief packages.

Each relief package contains enough food for fifty meals. Since May, the GHF has delivered more than 100 million meals to Gazans. In addition, the Israelis have encouraged other countries to airdrop hundreds of tons of food into Gaza. The IDF makes great efforts to protect the food aid it has provided from being stolen and then resold by Hamas.

The IDF has deliberately halted its operations for several hours each day, so that Gazans can be assured they can safely take delivery of food without being caught in the middle of a firefight between the IDF and Hamas. It has also encouraged dozens of countries to make airdrops of food into Gaza. Many thousands of pallets carrying hundreds of tons of food, water, and other relief have been delivered by several countries. That much more of the food aid is now getting through to the Gazans for whom it was intended is shown by the steep drop in the price of food in Gaza. For example, A kilogram of flour fell from NIS 80–100 to NIS 18; a kilogram of sugar has dropped from NIS 300 to NIS 50; a kilogram of pasta has decreased from NIS 100 to NIS 10; a kilogram of rice was reduced from NIS 120 to NIS 30. Such steep drops confirm that much more food aid is now getting through, with much less being stolen, hoarded, and resold at exorbitant prices by Hamas.

Israel is not deliberately starving the Gazans. The Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has made tremendous efforts to feed people in Gaza, with more than 100 million meals delivered to Gazans since May. Those Gazans have testified as to the maleficent role of Hamas in stealing so much of the food aid. Just look again at what those ordinary Gazans — Al-Tanini, Abdul Rahim Bakr, Ibrahim Atta Hawila, and many others — have been saying, denouncing Hamas for their misery. For these Gazans there is no doubt who is to blame. It is Hamas that is making their lives miserable, Hamas that has been stealing, hoarding, and reselling food aid at exorbitant prices. Shouldn’t the international media be reporting on what they have to say?

=============================================================================================

Middle East Madness > 3 steps toward sanity in ME - Kurdistan's PKK disbanding military wing; Hizbollah staff purged from Beirut airport; Israel to feed Gazans, starve Hamas

PKK says it is dissolving and ending 

its conflict with Turkey

By Darryl Coote

Supporters of The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) hold pictures of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, and shout slogans next to a bonfire during a rally for Newruz celebrations in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on March 21, 2025. On Monday, the PKK announced they were dissolving. Photo by Metin Yoksu/EPA-EFE

May 12 (UPI) -- The Kurdistan Workers' Party, a militant organization that seeks an independent Kurdistan, announced Monday that it was disbanding and ending its conflict with Turkey, a move that is expected to have wide-ranging consequences throughout the region.

The decision was announced by the Firat News Agency, which is closely aligned with the militant group known by the initials PKK, following the completion of its 12th Congress.

"The PKK's struggle has broken the policy of denial and annihilation imposed on our people and has brought the Kurdish issue to a point where it can be resolved through democratic politics. In this respect, it concluded that the PKK has fulfilled its historical mission," the PKK said in a statement.

"On this basis, the 12th Congress decided to dissolve the organizational structure of the PKK and to end the method of armed struggle, under the leadership and implementation of Leader APO (Abdullah Ocalan), thereby bringing to a close all activities conducted under the name of the PKK."

Related

• Pope calls for 'no more war' during first papal prayer
• Zelensky vows to meet 'personally' with Putin for talks to end war
• Pakistan accused of violating cease-fire with India

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his foreign ministry have yet to respond to the development.

That should be interesting when it happens. I'm not sure this is what Erdogan really wants.

The PKK was a Marxist-Leninist organization that formed, under Ocalan, in 1978 and sought an independent Kurdistan. It has led an insurgency against Turkey from Syria, where it was based, since 1984. More than 40,000 people are believed to have been killed in the nearly 50-year conflict.

The militant group is considered a terrorist organization by numerous countries, including Turkey, Britain, Canada and the United States.

Its disbanding comes after its long-imprisoned leader, Ocalan, called for the group in late February to end its insurgency against Turkey.

Ocalan, 75, is serving a life sentence at a South Istanbul prison. He was captured in 1999 and sentenced to death but was later commuted to life when Turkey abolished the death penalty.

Kurdistan region

Lebanon purges dozens of Hizballah-linked staff from Beirut airport

May 12, 2025 9:00 am By Christine Douglass-Williams

In mid-April, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun stated that negotiations and not force would disarm Hizballah. Although how this could be done was a mystery, President Aoun stated that “civil peace is a red line.” It didn’t seem realistic that Lebanon could control Hizballah, even in light of the fact that Israel has drastically weakened the jihad group.

Aoun’s declaration appeared unrealistic because of the heavy influence of Hizballah in Lebanon, from its political and military might to social services network, as well as its ability to obstruct the workings of the Lebanese government. Nevertheless, back in January, Aoun and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam challenged Hizballah: “Aoun and Salam have both spoken about the state having a monopoly on weapons and deploying to southern Lebanon, a clear message to Hezbollah that its military supremacy may be over.”

Now, Aoun and Salam are finally making good on their threats, in this precedent-setting wave of actions against Hizballah. The Lebanese government is showing a new level of confidence, demonstrating that it can act and withstand whatever response Hizballah may make to its actions.

Lebanon purges Hezbollah staff from Beirut airport in fatal blow to terror group’s smuggling – WSJ

Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2025:

Dozens of staff members at Beirut airport with ties to Hezbollah have been fired as the new government works to crack down on the terror group at one of its main import hubs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing senior Lebanese security and military officials.

While laws have existed for some time, the officials noted that they had finally begun being enforced, resulting in the arrests of numerous smugglers.

Ground crew members told the WSJ that, unlike in the past, no planes or passengers have been exempt from searches, and flights from Iran have been suspended since February.

“You can feel the difference,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in an interview with the WSJ. “We’re doing better on smuggling for the first time in the contemporary history of Lebanon.”

Lebanon has previously denied reports that Hezbollah has an arsenal stored at the airport – claiming the media had been influenced by Israel.

Anonymous airport workers claimed to the Daily Telegraph that Hezbollah was holding a weapons cache at the airport. One worker said that in November, “unusual” boxes arrived from Iran and that a high-ranking Hezbollah official was overseeing the customs shipments……

Israel Has Made Detailed Plan to Feed Gazans and Starve Hamas

May 8, 2025 4:00 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

What’s wrong with that? Because it is Israel, the country that can in the eyes of so many do nothing right, that made the plan, it must be rejected out of hand. Yet everyone knows — even Francesca Albanese can’t deny it — that for the past 19 months, Hamas has been seizing large amounts of the humanitarian aid sent into Gaza, and keeping it for its own members and their extended families. In addition, Hamas keeps another large tranche of that aid which it then sells to the plain people of Gaza — the very aid they were supposed to receive for free. Israel has come up with a well-thought-out, extremely detailed plan to deliver the aid, and bypass the thieves of Hamas. Yet the world, so ready to malign the Jewish state, rejects this plan. Apparently our Great and Good — the UN secretary-general, the editorial page writers of the New York Times, the entire staff of the BBC — would prefer that the aid be sent to Gaza, as in the past, unguarded and therefore straight into the grasping hands of Hamas. At all costs, we must prevent Israel from looking good.

Here, thanks to the diligent work of Elder of Ziyon, is what the Israeli government now plans to do in order to distribute the aid directly into the hands of the Gazans: 

Israel’s elaborate mechanism to bypass Hamas for aid to Gazans proves ‘starvation as weapon’ is a slander

Elder of Ziyon, May 6, 2025:

Israel is implementing a complex system to bring aid into Gaza. As JNS reports:

Three designated distribution centers will be established in Rafah, which will serve as the central hub for aid to the entire Gaza Strip. Each Gazan family will be represented by a single, registered individual authorized to collect a weekly food allotment, calibrated to meet survival needs—approximately 70 kilograms per household—without creating surpluses that could be exploited by terrorist groups.

Distribution will be managed via a formal registration process overseen by vetted NGOs and American private contractors. A senior Israeli security official emphasized that the new system aims to eliminate Hamas’s ability to intercept or steal bulk shipments.

“Hamas will find it much harder to seize aid from Gazan families,” the official said. “It’s one thing to hijack a supply truck. It’s another to rob food directly from the hands of hungry civilians.”

It strikes me that the logistics involved here are Herculean. Israel is setting up an entire distribution system, from trucks to recipients, from scratch, not relying on any existing systems – because Hamas is embedded in all the existing systems, including the NGOs.

The logistics are mind-boggling:

• Construction or repurposing of secure aid distribution centers (three hubs in Rafah).

• Probable establishment of temporary warehouses to store and protect incoming aid shipments.

• Installation of perimeter fencing, controlled entry/exit points, and crowd management systems.

• Creation of transport corridors from Kerem Shalom or other crossings to Rafah hubs.

• Comprehensive civilian registration system – likely including family rosters and IDs, identifying the allowed family member

• Biometric screening technology, including fingerprint or facial recognition, to prevent fraud or impersonation.

• Pre-verification protocols for NGOs and individuals interacting with the system.

• Weekly aid allotment calculation per household (~70kg) based on nutritional survival standards.

• Tracking software to prevent duplicate pickups and monitor usage patterns.

• Color-coded cards or tokens issued to approved family representatives.

• Deployment of IDF personnel for security and perimeter control.

• Hiring of American private contractors to manage logistics, data handling, and neutral oversight….

Look at the full list here. Think of how much detailed planning went into it. Yet there are still those who won’t accept it because, after all, it’s a plan by “the Zionist colonial-settlers” who’ve been guilty of “genocide,” and who wants to approve anything they propose?

If that Israel plan is not accepted, if aid is again delivered into the hands of Hamas before a pitiful remainder is left for the Gazans to share, then the world must be reminded of all that Israel was ready, willing, and able to do, to feed the people of Gaza while keeping Hamas from stealing so much of it, if only a malevolent world would let it.

==============================================================================================