Israel recently ordered a complete halt to all aid coming into the Gaza Strip. Predictably, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have accused it of violating international law. Indeed, Kenneth Roth, the former head of Human Rights Watch, said “Israel’s latest threat to cut off all aid is a resumption of the war-crime starvation strategy.” Wrong.
Under international law, Israel is neither bound nor morally obligated to provide sustenance to Gaza. The Israeli government suspended aid to persuade Hamas to release its hostages, whom they’ve been torturing and starving for 17 months in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. What’s more, it is Hamas that is starving Gazans.
According to international law, it is Hamas’s job, as Gaza’s ruler, to provide sustenance for its people. Instead, Hamas hijacks the humanitarian aid and uses it to feed its fighters and sustain itself through black-market trade, rather than feeding its population. Nevertheless, Israel has, until now, facilitated the delivery of bountiful aid into the coastal enclave—enough to feed Gazans for up to six more months, according to Israeli assessments.
In addition to suspending aid, Israel has upped the ante by cutting off Gaza’s electricity supply to exert “maximum pressure” on Hamas. If Hamas refuses to release the hostages, the Israeli government is considering moving Gazan civilians out of the northern part of the enclave. As a last resort, Israel will return to armed conflict.
Israel’s immediate goal is to prevent the Iranian-backed terrorist group’s continued use of humanitarian aid to sustain itself while ensuring that Gazan civilians still have access in full compliance with international law. Israel’s strategic goal is to eradicate Hamas by killing its operatives in substantial numbers; destroying its weapons; and removing it from power in the coastal enclave.
Hamas alone has the power to restore aid and electricity to the Gaza Strip, by agreeing to extend Phase One of the current ceasefire per the U.S. proposal, which calls for the freeing of additional hostages, preferably all remaining hostages, and forcing the terrorist group to surrender, thus bringing an end to the war and the Gazans’ suffering.
NGOs and the United Nations falsely accuse Israel of violating international law by using starvation against Hamas/Gazans. Tom Fletcher, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, wrote in on X, “International humanitarian law is clear: We must be allowed access to deliver vital lifesaving aid.” Similarly, aid organization Oxfam claimed that halting aid to Gaza was “explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
Note that both of these NGOs ignore Hamas’s failure to feed its people and to release civilian hostages—both violations of international law.
Hamas itself had the chutzpah of accusing the Jewish state of violating international law, saying the “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the (ceasefire) agreement.”
It is not illegal for Israel to suspend aid. It is Hamas’s job under international humanitarian law to sustain its population, and it is Israel’s job to allow humanitarian aid to flow unless the defender steals it. Hamas’s stealing of the aid compels Israel to cease deliveries.
Though Israel is not responsible for Gaza’s sustenance, it has provided abundant aid. From the start of the war until Jan. 17, 2025, Israel facilitated more than 1.3 million tons of aid entering Gaza. Since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, more than 25,000 aid trucks carrying food, water and medicine have entered the Strip, plus more than half a million tents and 2,100 fuel tankers. Pictures and clips of markets in Gaza stocked with food abound on the internet. Meanwhile, CNN reported that Hamas terrorists laughed at starving hostages as their captors ate full meals in front of them.
Aid is Hamas’s life blood. Hamas steals the aid, eats and uses it, then sells the remainder to merchants on the black market, who, in turn, sell it to ordinary Gazans at exorbitant prices. If Gazans are going hungry, it is Hamas depriving them of food, not Israel.
According to Israeli security establishment estimates, close to a billion dollars have reached Hamas since October 2023, both directly and indirectly. This money enables it to continue paying its operatives and recruit new operatives to replace those killed. Israeli officials estimate Hamas has stockpiled supplies sufficient for four to six months.
Ironically, it is Hamas that instigated the war and Hamas’s (the “defender’s”) responsibility to provide for its people. Hamas is illegally stealing humanitarian aid, which gives Israel the right to stop such aid. Ironically, it is Israel that is pressured to allow aid to enter (which foremost aids Hamas) and to cease its fire. Ironically, no governments, NGOs, mainstream media or U.N. agencies demand Hamas’s surrender. Why?
Israel’s plan: Pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages and abandon “resistance.” Israel suspended aid and cut electricity to pressure Hamas into freeing more hostages per a U.S.-brokered proposal. Under this ceasefire extension, Hamas would release half the remaining hostages and the other half once a permanent ceasefire is agreed upon. Additional pressure, such as cutting off water to Gaza, could follow. So far, Hamas has refused to accept the U.S.-brokered ceasefire extension.
If armed conflict does resume, the Israel Defense Forces plans to annihilate Hamas using overwhelming force involving more than 50,000 soldiers. Simultaneously, the IDF will fulfill its international legal obligations by relocating the civilian population to humanitarian zones—as it has done through the course of the war—and will take charge of protecting aid deliveries.
Professor Kobi Michael, from the Institute for National Security Studies, said that outside the humanitarian zones, no external aid will enter Gaza. “This will prevent Hamas from continuing to steal all the humanitarian aid and will increase pressure on the group through the local population,” he said.
Hamas has the power to restore aid and electricity—by releasing hostages and surrendering. If it refuses, Israel will almost certainly proceed with a harsh, full-scale ground assault on Gaza, forcing the terrorist group either to raise the white flag or suffer an ignoble end.
Those who sincerely care for the hostages and the Gazan people will demand that Hamas surrender while encouraging and supporting Israel until they do.
Originally published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).