Hamas Seizing Food Aid Meant For Gazans, Selling It On Black Market At Exorbitant Prices: Report

A new report states that the terrorist group Hamas has been commandeering food supplies sent into Gaza and selling them at exorbitant prices on the black market.

Zvika Klein, the current editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, spoke with a current senior Israeli defense official who asserted that the claims food shortages are ignoring the reality of Hamas’ malfeasance.

“The food shortage and use of the word ‘hunger’ have been exaggerated,” the defense official told Klein, adding that food Israel has delivered into Gaza has “immediately been taken by Hamas terrorists, who then sell some of the supplies for ten times more than what it’s worth …” 

“Every family has enough food to survive,” the defense official said of the food that has been delivered. “Are they eating five meals a day? The answer is no. We have been supplying them with aid as well as the U.S., but unfortunately, it wasn’t distributed to the citizens themselves.”

“There are those who are hungry since Hamas has taken all of the food and they don’t have enough money to pay Hamas on the black market,” a former senior Israeli defense official told Klein. The official added that gangs loyal to Hamas seize the food and aid supplies at gunpoint. “The situation in Gaza is akin to hunger in New York, where homeless people suffer not from a lack of food but from a lack of money to purchase it … This condition reinforces [Hamas’] narrative, portraying hunger as a consequence of external forces and legitimizing their control.”

The former defense official stated that Hamas has deliberately shot down food drops from the United States, Jordan, and the UAE in order to promote the idea that Gazans are starving. He conjectured that if food aid were successful, Hamas would lose clout in Gaza and lose control of the populace.

A third defense official said, “We should have categorized this war as the Israel-Iran War or even the West-vs-Iran war,” referring to Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and other terrorist groups, all connected to Iran’s theocratic, Israel-hating regime.

He noted that Israel has been working to eliminate proxies of Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, adding, “The Americans should also be actively eliminating Hamas proxies because it is in their interest. Unfortunately, and although we have tried to convince them to do so, they haven’t yet understood the importance – not only from an Israeli perspective, but actually from their own.”