Israel said Hamas coopts food and other aid so it can ‘be humanitarian,’ and with cease-fire talks broken down, it won’t supply any more.
Israel defended its weekend cutoff of more humanitarian aid to Gaza as a necessary step to stop resources flowing to Hamas.
The spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that Israel has allowed in 4,200 food trucks a week, “enough for many, many months,” during the six-week cease-fire that ended on March 1.
On March 1, Hamas said it was rejecting the proposal of President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff to extend the first-phase cease-fire terms until April 20 through Ramadan and then Passover.
Under the proposal, Hamas would be required to release half of all living and dead hostages on the first day and release all the rest if a permanent cease-fire were reached.
Netanyahu said, in a statement released by his office, that Hamas held 59 hostages, up to 24 of whom are alive and at least 35 of whom are dead.
Witkoff proposed the extension when it became apparent that Israel and Hamas could not agree on moving to a cease-fire second phase, Netanyahu said.
“There will be no free lunches,” Netanyahu said in announcing the cutoff of supplies. “If Hamas thinks that it will be possible to continue the cease-fire or benefit from the terms of the first state without us receiving hostages, it is sorely mistaken.”
His office’s spokesman, David Mencer, said in a virtual press conference on March 3, “Hamas systematically takes humanitarian aid and sells it to support their own terror.”
“For a year and a half now, Israel has sent in—but Hamas has betrayed—the supplies we sent so that Hamas could be humanitarian. Instead, they’ve in fact been barbarian for years.”
Mencer said Hamas diverted concrete meant for homes and used it instead to build hundreds of miles of terror tunnels. Israelis refer to it as the “Gaza Metro.”
“Fuel meant for ambulances was used in pickup trucks and motorbikes that broke into Israel and carried our kidnapped women and children into Gaza. Medicines have been used to drug our own hostages,” Mencer said.
“Food intended for widespread distribution has been feeding the bellies of the guards that starve our own hostages, who emerge … looking like victims of the Holocaust. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. … No free meals to those who kill.”
