The core problem in Gaza is Hamas. It’s not humanitarian. There is plenty of aid. Distribution is the issue. There are massive amounts of uncollected food and aid rotting away in the blistering sun on the Gazan side of the border. It goes to rot because the United Nations is unwilling to distribute it.

That is a testament to the bogus charge that Israel is to blame. The figures provided by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories illustrates that only about 20 percent of the aid that gets to the Gaza border is actually distributed. There is plenty of aid in Gaza but Hamas loots or prevents it from being distributed to all Gazan civilians. 

According to the UN about 85 percent of aid that they bring into Gaza is stolen by Hamas or other armed groups before it reaches those in need. That is coming from the UN. For decades, Israel’s counter-terrorism policy has been to minimize civilian casualties and suffering. It is the moral and effective thing to do.

That is the reason that, according to the head of urban warfare at West Point, John Spencer, Gaza has one of the lowest “combatants to non-combatant casualty ratio” in urban warfare history and “Israel has implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties in urban warfare than any other military in the history of war.”

Hamas’s policy is to maximize civilian casualties and suffering — both Israeli and Palestinian — and use it as a propaganda tool. That is the reason that Hamas targets Israeli civilians, hides behind Palestinian civilians, and then tries to lie about it. Unfortunately, Hamas is often successful in doing so.

Hamas made a mistake this week in one of its propaganda videos. The plump arm of a terrorist, handing over a can of food to a hostage, is visible in minute 2:31 of the video, disclosing a sharp contrast to the emaciated arm of the starved hostage, Evyatar David. The only ones being premeditatedly starved in Gaza are the hostages.

Hamas and its facilitators prefer that Gazans starve, most preferably on the front page of the New York Times, than for food to be distributed by any organization that is not controlled by Hamas. That is the basic untold truth.

A key sticking point in the hostage negotiations is that Hamas insists on having veto power on who can and cannot distribute food in Gaza. Hamas insists that all the aid be distributed by the Red Crescent and designated UN organizations like the UN Relief and Works Agency. 

Why? Because Hamas controls them. Aid that goes to Hamas keeps it in power and provides business to its cronies. Hamas adamantly opposes the distribution of food by the Gazan Humanitarian Fund or any other organization that it does not control. Why? Because it would end Hamas rule and the so-called humanitarian business of its cronies.

Hamas made more than $500 million in 2024 from diverting aid. By looting and reselling humanitarian aid at inflated prices, Hamas funds its attacks and recruits new terrorists. That is why it opposes the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is an authentic humanitarian organization that has directly delivered more than 1.6 million meals to Gazan civilians.

I visited GHF offices on the outskirts of Gaza and learned that if GHF were able to quadruple its distribution, the humanitarian problem could be solved. Nevertheless, Hamas and their facilitators demand that the GHF be shut down. That is the basic untold truth. 

Hamas demands, “Let our groups distribute the goods, or nobody distributes the goods.”

We all know why.

The Middle East is changing. There is hope that this time will be different. That Hamas will be held responsible. The world has witnessed Israel’s decisive actions across the region: Hitting Hamas harder than it has ever been hit before in Gaza, bringing Hezbollah to its knees in Lebanon, dismantling Bashar al-Assad’s military apparatus in Syria, and together with the United States and President Trump, removing the nuclear and ballistic missile existential threat posed by Iran. 

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently acknowledged what many quietly recognize — that Israel is doing the West’s “dirty work.” Herr Merz was right. Even the 22-nation Arab League acknowledges that Israel has done its dirty work. It is unanimously calling for Hamas to disarm and dissolve power.

Some things have not changed. In Europe and Canada, left-wing governments who depend on radical Islamist votes to stay in office choose to appease terrorism rather than confront it. The call by France, the United Kingdom, and Canada for a Palestinian state against the backdrop of October 7 is not only a moral failure and a huge prize for terrorism, but also a terrible obstacle for the prospects of releasing the hostages. Israel will free the hostages, free Gaza from Hamas, and enable a peaceful government to be established there.