Israel has tried to enlighten the world about the true nature of Hamas for years. Since the unspeakable atrocities that Hamas committed on October 7, some of the Western world is seeing the light. Others never will because they simply don’t want to.
But on Friday, even the anti-Israel New York Times published a report entitled: As Gazans Scrounge for Food and Water, Hamas Sits on a Rich Trove of Supplies. The report quotes Western and Arab officials confirming Israel’s assertions that the Hamas terror group has been stockpiling supplies while completely disregarding the needs of Gazan civilians, including “desperately needed food and fuel.”
Ironically, according to the report, the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas may have access to products that are currently unobtainable for Gazan civilians.
One of the four Israeli hostages released by Hamas even described the group providing captives with medicine, shampoo and feminine hygiene products. All are now said to be extraordinarily scarce in Gaza more than two weeks after Israel, aided by Egypt, imposed what it called a “complete” blockade following the attack by the terrorist group on Oct. 7.
The Arab and Western officials who described Hamas’s supply situation all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were disclosing information gleaned from human sources, communications intercepts and other streams of intelligence. The stockpiles are typically kept underground, they said, and cautioned that precise details on Hamas’s supplies were difficult to come by.
While the blockade has left Gaza’s roughly 2 million people scraping by with what little food and water they scrounge up, it does not yet appear to have begun to degrade Hamas’s ability to fight. The group has launched hundreds of rockets at Israel since the blockade began and have fended off preliminary Israeli incursions into the enclave.
The supply situation speaks to the relative sophistication of Hamas as a fighting force — an axiom among military professionals is that while amateurs talk about tactics, professionals talk about logistics. Yet with Gazans facing a humanitarian catastrophe, Hamas’s stockpiles raise questions about what responsibility, if any, it has to the civilian population.
Fuel has taken on growing importance in recent days. Israel has so far refused to allow any fuel to be delivered to Gaza, even as other aid begins to trickle in, leaving much of the enclave without electricity to power hospitals, desalinate or pump water, fire bakers’ ovens and run internet and cellphone services. The United Nations, which handles the bulk of humanitarian relief work in Gaza, said on Thursday that it “has almost exhausted its fuel reserves and begun to significantly reduce its operations.”
Asked about the situation, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters that if Gazans or the United Nations need fuel, they should get it from Hamas.
“Hamas has fuel but has different priorities — to provide ventilation and air for its tunnel system, for firing rockets, command and control,” he said on Thursday.
The situation regarding food for Gazan civilians is similar to that of fuel.
Samir Ghattas, an Egyptian strategic analyst who closely monitors Gaza, said that Hamas would not be willing to provide food or any other kinds of supplies to aid civilians. “The Hamas movement cares only about the Hamas movement,” he said. “The public of Gaza mean absolutely nothing for Hamas.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
