Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel is working with the U.S. administration to ensure that humanitarian aid being sent to Palestinians in Gaza is not reaching Hamas, which uses it as a lifeline to extend the war.
“The idea is basically to take away the humanitarian looting as a tool of war by Hamas [and] to give it to the population,” Netanyahu said in an address to diplomats attending an international antisemitism conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem of the new US-backed Gaza humanitarian aid plan which got underway this week.
“And then we basically, how shall I say this? We leave the fish without the water. We leave the Hamas terrorists without the tool for governance, which they use—and that’s basically the humanitarian aid that they loot.”
He noted that previous aid to Gaza had been seized by Hamas and used to entrench its position and thereby extend the war.
The premier said the best way for Israel to win the information war against the “lies spreading across the globe” is to win the 20-month-old war soon.
“The best way that we can win the information war—and win the war against antisemitism—is winning the war quickly,” Netanyahu said. “That’s what we are trying to do. Win the war quickly, free our hostages, destroy Hamas. The two go hand in hand because you don’t get the release of hostages unless you apply military pressure.”
Hamas seeks to block humanitarian aid
Hamas on Tuesday tried to block civilians from reaching the new aid distribution centers established in Gaza.
“I hope that everybody understands that the suffering of the people is because of Hamas not the Israelis not the Americans, only Hamas,” US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told JNS on Wednesday.
“Despite their every attempt to take food out of the mouths of hungry people, we are very proud to see that the relief and humanitarian efforts are beginning to work and provide much-needed assistance,” he added.
