Current events in Iran have largely pushed the Israeli-Hamas conflict out of the news cycle. But a recent incident in Gaza reinforces how Hamas terrorists have little consideration for the well-being of their own people.
On Monday, Reuters reported that a U.N. official accused Hamas of sabotaging aid distribution in the Gaza Strip, “placing further hardship on its civilians already grappling with the humanitarian crisis in the war-shattered enclave.”
Ramiz Alakbarov, U.N. deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the wire service that aid workers had to halt assistance efforts over the weekend when armed men entered a food distribution warehouse in northern Gaza and assaulted two truck drivers involved in the distribution of humanitarian aid.
“They are placing humanitarian workers at risk,” Mr. Alakbarov said, according to Reuters, “disrupting the delivery of lifesaving assistance, and further constraining the ability of humanitarian organizations to operate at a time when civilians across Gaza continue to face immense and pressing humanitarian conditions.” He said the incident was “not isolated.”
Hamas later issued a news release denying the allegations, but what credibility do these terrorists have? After all, such behavior is par for the course. Last year, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas publicly condemned the “looting and theft carried out by criminal gangs” — affiliated with Hamas — “targeting warehouses and storage facilities of humanitarian aid.”
The Israeli Security Agency estimates that Hamas has looted 60 percent of the aid entering Gaza. Meanwhile, the American Jewish Committee notes, “Throughout the war, Israel, the United States and numerous independent observers have documented instances in which Hamas stole, taxed, diverted or otherwise exploited humanitarian assistance intended for Palestinian civilians. Hamas has also operated within densely populated civilian areas, increasing the risks facing both humanitarian workers and civilians seeking aid.”
The latter tactic has been a hallmark of Hamas strategy. The terrorist group routinely puts military targets and infrastructure in civilian enclaves — even near schools and hospitals — hoping to reap propaganda benefits from the deaths of its own people. The strategy has, unfortunately, been successful as misguided progressive activists on U.S. campuses and in the Democratic Party direct their opprobrium at Israel, while defending terrorists who carried out the Oct. 7 massacre of Jews and kidnapped scores of innocent civilians while vowing to eliminate the Jewish state.
The record indicates that Hamas has little interest in peace, minimizing civilian casualties or ensuring that aid reaches its people. Its foolish sympathizers exhibit intractable symptoms of deep moral confusion.
