Hamas Wants U.S.-Backed Food Foundation Gone “Because It Works

A large portion of the conversation on the Middle East currently revolves around reports of starvation in Gaza—indeed, this is supposed to be part of the reason France’s Emmanuel Macron is preparing to officially recognise a Palestinian state.

Yet Hamas’ opposition to a humanitarian foundation, which says it has distributed almost 100 million meals in Gaza since late May, appears to have gone largely underreported.

The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that the terror group had the shutting down of this U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as the “no. 2 item” on its “list of demands in ceasefire negotiations on Thursday.” The paper also quoted an American official who said the GHF has “caused Hamas more fear than anything else has in the past two years.”

Human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky explained that this was because the foundation “works.”

It gets aid directly to those who need it, and not into the hands of Hamas. For the first time, it removes Hamas’ greatest source of leverage, of using hunger as a threat and a weapon of war.

Richard Tice, who is deputy leader of Britain’s Reform party, later noted that “Hamas [does] not want a ceasefire nor peace,” but simply “control and to terrify people,” adding that European leaders “would be wise to listen” to those who make this point.

U.S. President Donald Trump also said on Monday that Hamas is “stealing the food.”

They’re stealing a lot of things. You ship it in and they steal it, then they sell it.

His and Benjamin Netanyahu’s administrations withdrew from Gaza peace talks last week, saying Hamas had blocked a deal. But Trump has since stated that a ceasefire remains “possible.”