The plight of Gazan civilians lacking enough food has made headlines, but make no mistake: Whatever hunger exists in Gaza is Hamas’ fault — and the way to address it is to end Hamas. And thus, the war.
Claims of “mass starvation,” of course, are utter baloney. They’re based by all sorts of falsehoods, including, most recently, lurid, upsetting photos of supposedly sick, malnourished kids, whose protruding bones make them look like Nazi concentration-camp prisoners.
Numerous publications published one particularly disturbing photo, of a boy named Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, to show the effects of “widespread hunger.”
Only it turns out the boy is not malnourished but has a genetic disease; uncropped pictures show his well-fed brother nearby.
It’s likely many Gazans have trouble getting enough food for their families day-to-day. But relying on any information out of Gaza about food supplies is a dangerous business.
Reports of “mass starvation” there have been circulating from early in the war. In May the BBC reported that “14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours,” yet that turned out to be a willful misreading of a projection by the United Nations (itself an unreliable source).
Meanwhile, Israel is permitting truckloads of aid into Gaza, and facilitating air drops. This week it even paused military action for 10 hours a day to allow for humanitarian aid.
Remember, though, that food shortages in Gaza have largely been orchestrated by Hamas, which steals international aid for its own members and to resell to finance its war efforts.
And this morally perverse group actually wants its people to starve, so the world will blame Israel and pressure it to halt its attacks on . . . Hamas.
That strategy has been succeeding, which is why Hamas has refused to surrender or even agree to a cease-fire.
Just this weekend, for example, French premier Macron fecklessly “recognized” Palestine as a state.
That just rewards Hamas further, and encourages it to keep the war going. Expect only more suffering for Gazans.
At least President Donald Trump is wise to the game: Last week, he pulled US negotiators back from cease-fire talks, saying Hamas “didn’t want to make a deal,” but rather “wanted to die.”
Spot on: The group is nothing more than a power-hungry death cult that gloats over the “martyrdom” of innocent people it hides behind. It built hundreds of miles of tunnels for its soldiers but not one shelter for its people.
If the world wants to improve the lives of suffering Gazans, it needs to unify against Hamas, not Israel.
Once Hamas is defeated, the war can end and Gazans will be free of their true oppressors.
That will also bring about the best chances yet for long-term peace.
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